Royal Quills
by Kat-the-Echidna
Summary: It's been four years ever since Dawn returned to Mobius. Eggman is back, and he strikes with full force. Scourge is still around, and Dr. Finitevus has went into hiding. But isn't important. Can she make a permanent commitment to Shadow?
1. Prologue

**_Together Forever_**

Trees. That's all we could see. Oak trees, pine trees, weeping willows...Lots of birds singing too. I saw a robin fly above us; it landed on a branch in a nearby oak tree. The cool earth was soft, the grass was green and beautiful; the strands of grass tickled my feet since we were both walking around barefoot. A warm summer breeze runs by, brushing us gently against our faces, combing through our fur softly, making us feel relaxed. I held Shadow's ungloved hand tightly, he responded by bringing our bodies closer as we walked.

We've been out here for two hours. The sun was still high in the sky; we've been out here since dawn. The sun hardly penetrated the thick canopies of the tress. We didn't care. We were together, that's all that matters. A few more minutes later, we finally reach our destination. Standing alone in a large ring of trees, a weeping willow stands there, it's branches and leaves swaying softly in the wind. Flowers are scattered about in the ring around the willow. A few butterflies hover around the flowers, craving their nectar.

Shadow holds my hand, we walk towards the tree, hand-in hand. We reach it, we sit next to each other against the willow's large trunk. Shadow wraps an arms around my waist, I move closer and rest my head on his shoulder. It's quiet, but we don't mind. I already know why we're out here, but I don't say a word. I take full advantage of this moment, waiting for the peace-breaker. Ten seconds pass...thirty...a minute...three minutes...Going on five...

"Dawn." Shadow just says my name. He knows that i know what he's going to say.

"Shadow," I reply "you and I both know why we're out here. And I'm sorry to say that my answer's the same." Shadow placed his hand under my chin and brought it up until we were looking each other dead in the eye.

"These two years has been amazing," he says "Sure the doctor has returned, but his attacks are less, Scourge is no where to be found, your family was brought back together, what's holding you back?"

"I'm just...afraid," I say sheepishly "I love you with all my heart and soul, Shadow. But marriage...I don't know if I'm ready..."

"You've grown up to be a very fine woman, Dawn. A loyal companion, a beautiful princess..." He lifts his hand and brushes my bang aside so he can see both of my eyes. "What's holding you back? What are you so afraid of?"

"I may be a woman on the outside, Shadow...But on the inside...I still feel like a child..."

"Everyone's a child at heart, Dawn. But I am unfortunate. I was created, not born. Therefore I have no idea what's it like to be a child. But you shouldn't be ashamed of that. In fact, that's one of the reasons why I fell in love with you."

"I just don't know..." Shadow placed both of his hands on my cheeks. He comes closer, and kisses me on my lips passionately. Two years had past ever since Sonic brought be home from Earth. I should be eighteen, right? Wrong. I recently found out that anthros (short for anthropomorphic) age slower than humans. Even though I'm eighteen, I still have the body of a seventeen year old. Even so, I am still treated as an adult. It's a little strange. I know that I'm eighteen, but I still feel like a teenager. I don't know if it's because I still have a teenager body or what.

In these last two years, Dr. Eggman, the dominant villian of Mobius, announced his comeback. He attacked occasionally, but the Freedom Fighters were able to supress him. We all thought he'd come and attack at full force, but he's been very meek for some odd reason. Mom is back to her normal self now, and dad couldn't be happier. We've been bonding as a family nowadays, even though I'm with shadow most of the time. Speaking of which, ever since I've come of age, Shadow's been asking me to marry. We've both been eagerly awaiting this day, but now that it came, I'm a little scared. Everyone I've talked to told me it's only natural to feel this way. Both mom and dad said that they felt the same day when it was time to go to the alter.

Scourge disappeared. Ever since he found out that he was blamed for my mom's death, he left and never came back. We all thought that he was going to go on a full rampage, but he didn't. The last time I saw him was when we confronted Miles on Moebius. He walked into another room of the castle without a word. After that, we haven't seen him at all...Dr. Finitevus has been awfully quiet as well. We don't know where he is or what he's up to. In a way, I'm glad that the both of them are quiet, but there's another part of me that's expecting the worse. It obvious that they've been quiet because they're plotting something...But what was it?

I hadn't realize that Shadow and I were still kissing...In fact, we were so into it that I was laying on my back now, and Shadow was on top of me. It felt like an eternity, but the kiss was finally broekn since we both needed to get air into our lungs. I looked into Shadow's crimson eyes and smiled. I was very happy to be with him...I hoped this moment never ended.

"We can stay longer, if you want." Shadow said, reading my thoughts.

"But Sonic's gonna wonder where we are if we don't go back soon." I argue.

"He knows you're safe with me. I'll never let anything bad happen to you, and you know that. He shouldn't worry about you so much."

"But-"

"A little longer. Please..." I could never resist Shadow when he begged. He always pulls these kinds of cute faces to make me give in.

"Ok." I said smiling. Shadow smiled back, and he kissed me again. It was deeper than before, but I didn't care. As long as I was with him, I was happy regardless. Soon, the only thing I could hear were the chirping of the many birds in the canopies, and the gentle rustling of the leaves swaying in the summer wind...

* * *

**End Notes:** Just a little romantic prologue for Shadow and Dawn. It might not be the start that you all were expecting, but I wanted to be different with the prologue this time.

I wasn't expecting to have to prologue to the sequel _"Emerald Kisses"_ up so soon. But I'm glad I was able to get it up today.

Review if you wish, no pressure. But don't be mean, please? Criticism is okay, but it's to a certain extent for me.

The first chapter to this will be delayed, along with the other chapters to my other stories. I hope this one ends up better than the first one...

Thanks for reading everyone. See you next chapter, and God bless!


	2. Chapter 1

**_The Werehog Returns..._**

Dark clouds. No sunlight, but that was to be expected when it's nearly ten at night. Cold. Rain. Nothing could be heard but the howling wind, the pounding wind, the rumble of thunder, and agonized cries coming from deep inside a large metal structure deep in the mountains...

Deep inside it's metal doors in a large lab, a blue hedgehog covered with cuts and bruises was standing in the middle of the room. Well...in truth, he was _forced_ to stand up. He was being held up by his hands and wrists. They were being supported with some type chained device; his hands were completely covered with a cocooned shaped device. Sonic was panting, his eyes were dull, and he was just exhausted. But nothing could describe the amount of pain that was going through his body right now. He's been here for three hours straight. It was supposed to be an easy mission, but it turned out to be a trap. He could only be thankful for one thing; his daughter wasn't here to witness this.

Two pedastal-like devices sat on either side of the blue blur. On one pedastal rested a white Chaos Emerald that belonged to Sonic. On the other pedastal was a red Chaos Emerald. Both mythical gems were fading; their power being drained into the machines.

Sitting high above the floor was a man. He was a human; round body, skinny arms and legs, bald head, blue sunglasses, big bushy mustache. He looked down at the hedgehog with a content look on his face. Everything was going along smoothly...even if he didn't have _both_ hedgehogs...

Dr. Eggman chuckled to himself as another surge of negative energy discharged from the machines and flow into Sonic's body, causing the hedgehog to yell in pain. Just a little longer, and the hedgehog will be no more...

"Give up yet, Sonic?" Dr. Eggman asked mockingly.

"D-don't...count...on it..." Sonic croaked.

"You're going to die, Hedgehog," Eggman sneered "It'd be best to surrender now while I'm still merciful. If you do that, then you can go free. But you'll also have to give your kingdom up to me."

"I...I'd never...do that," Sonic choked out "Even if...it costs me my....life...I'll make sure...my daughter won't...go through...this same pain...I went through...in the war." Dr. Eggman sighed before he leaned back in his chair. He picked up a small device with only a large red mounted on the top. He held it tight in his hands, and made sure Sonic could see it.

"This is your final chance," he growled "Surrender now and you'll live!"

"Kiss my...spikey...blue ass...Egghead!" Sonic cried. Eggman grunted briefly, and then he pushed that ominous red button.

The machine came to life as lights and a low humming sound came on. Sonic tense his body up, expecting the worse to come. _Please..._Sonic prayed to the emeralds, hoping that they will hear his plea _the seven servers of chaos...the seven lights...hear my call...Please help me! _The emeralds started to glow a bright light as more negative energy rushed into Sonic's body, causing him to scream in pain once again. Eggman started to laugh manically, finally succeeding in killing Sonic. But he was dead wrong...

The emeralds that rested on the pedastals released a large surge of energy, as if they were angry at Eggman and the machine for causing their life long friend this pain. They released so much energy that it cause the machine ot malfunction, as well as overheat.

"What is this?!" Eggman cried angerily once he realized that something was very wrong. Sonic was gathering invisible energy from the emeralds, and he was able to gather enough strength to break his restraints. Once his hands were free, he grab at the first thing he saw; the white Chaos Emerald. As if it was startled, the mythical gem released another surge of energy, only this time it was negative energy. This happened because Sonic's rage had built up to a dangerous level when he was finally released. But he didn't realize that his anger would become his greatest mistake...

The white emerald was in Sonic's hand already, and now he was going for the red one. The whole lab was releasing sparks and spewing smoke from the walls, pipes and floor. This place was self-destructing, and Dr. Eggman knew that too well. He got out of his seat and tried to make his escape, but then an ear-shattering roar stopped him dead in his tracks. He turned around to see the area where Sonic was imprinsoned was covered with black smoke. Even so, a figure could be seen through the smoke.

Something was walking towards Eggman, and when it reached the thinnest area of the smoke, Eggman could see the glow of angry red eyes. When the figure stepped out of the smoke, Dr. Eggman's mouth was agape.

The figure was a type of dark blue furred creature. It has a gray-blue muzzle, and hands. Its arms were incredibly bulky, and white fluffy fur were around its wrists. Long sharp glaws were on his fingers, and gray tips were at the end of its quills. White fangs poked out of the sides of its mouth, and even though it didn't wear gloves, it wore red and white sneakers with black spikes on the bottom.

Before Eggman could react, the creature leaped at the doctor, its mouth wide open and fangs glistening. However, the loud roar of thunder cut off a loud scream coming from within the base...

* * *

Five hours. Sonic's been gone for five hours...the location was Freedom fighter HQ. It was almost midnight...Sonic should've been back by now...

Inside the base, three Mobians waited impatiently as a search party went out to find the missing king of Mobius. One of them was Sonic beloved and only daughter, Princess Dawn the Hedgehog. The poor snow furred hedgehog kept pacing around the lab restlessly, and was showing no signs of calming down. Sonic's wife and Dawn's mother, Queen Sally Acorn, was also showing signs of worry. Though she wasn't as bad as Dawn, she did shiver and look around the room restlessly, as if she was hoping Sonic would come in.

Shadow the Hedgehog, Dawn's mate and fiancee' (Dawn finally accepted the proposal), walked over to his troubled mate and wrapped his arms around her. He couldn't find any words that could comfort her, so the only thing he could do was hold her close.

"What if something happened to him?" Dawn said frantically "what if the mission went wrong? What if Sonic was killed?! What if..."

"Dawn." Shadow spoke softly, but he was somehow able to hush Dawn for a bit.

"I'm sorry," Dawn said quietly "but I'm worried 'bout him...I just--I just don't want to lose him..."

"Nothing's going to happen to Sonic," Shadow said quietly as he held Dawn tighter "He's been in rougher situations than this. and he came out without a scratch in each one. He's coming back, I garuntee it." Dawn knew that Shadow was just trying to make her feel better, but she still wasn't convinced. She'll only be able to rest easy if she sees Sonic's blue fur and charming smile again...

* * *

Nearly nine hours had passed. Still no sign of Sonic. Sally and Dawn eventually fell asleep in the lab, but Shadow was wide awake. Dawn was in his arms, sleeping peacefully. But Shadow wasn't at peace...He knew Sonic should've been back by now, but there's still no sign of him. What if everyone's fears were a reality? What if Sonic actually...perished...? No...there's no sense of thinking like that. Shadow knew _too _well that Sonic isn't _that_ easy to get rid of, not in the slightest. Something must've delayed him when he was out; nothing more, nothing less.

Besides...if something really did happen to Sonic, shadow couldn't bare to look his mate in the eye ever again. Shadow kept insisting that he went with Sonic on the mission, but Sonic refused each time and insisted that Shadow should stay here with Dawn just in case something happened to him...If Sonic doesn't come back, a cloud of guilt will hang over Shadow's head for the rest of his life.

Forty minutes later, a brown bat with long black hair bursts into the room. Shadow, Dawn and Sally, shot up, eager to hear what ever this Mobian had to say.

"We found Sonic," Cyrus panted "he's in the infirmary." Dawn immediately ran out of the lab and towards the infirmary; the other three Mobians quickly followed after her.

In the infirmary. Everyone's circled around one of the beds. Dawn rushes into the room and pushes the crowd aside. Lying on the bed heavily bandage but alive, is a very familiar blue hedgehog.

"Dad!!" Dawn cried before she threw herself onto her beloved father and hugged him tightly.

"H...hey kiddo," Sonic croaked "missed me..?"

"I thought you were killed!" Dawn cried through her tears "Don't ever do that again!"

"I...had to do...what I...had to do..."

"We should let him rest," Shadow said as he placed his hand on Dawn's shoulder "Let him rest. He'll make a full recovery soon." Dawn was hesitant, but she obeyed her fiancee and tore away from Sonic. She gave him one last saddened look before she and Shadow walked out of the room quietly. Dawn's mother, Sally, stayed and sat on the bed next to her husband.

"What happened to you..?" she whispered.

"I'm...sorry...Sal," Sonic croaked "It...was my fault...I let him...trick me..."

"Don't blame yourself," Sally placed her hand on Sonic's cheek and kissed his forehead "I'm just happy that you're alive." Sonic smiled at his wife, before his eyes began to close slowly. Sally knew that Sonic was tired, so he let him fall asleep. But she didn't leave; she felt that she needed to be there for Sonic at this moment. She wasn't going to leave, not until she knew for sure that he was going to be alright...

* * *

Three days had passed. Sonic was released from the infirmary and is finishing his recovery in the comfort of his own home. Sonic was in the master bedroom; Dawn was sitting on the bed with him, drinking a mug of coffee while Sonic had a glass of orange juice. As Sonic watched the television, Dawn couldn't help but to stare at him. She's been noticing that Sonic's been acting a little strange ever since he came back. Sonic isn't allowed to leave his bed until the doctors give him the ok, but she's been hearing a lot of shuffling coming from the bedroom at night. She would ask her mother about it, but Sally is sleeping in the guest room since she feels she needs to give Sonic his space in order to recover. There are other things she's noticed too, like hearing something with claws walk around on the second and first floor...But then again...

Sonic noticed Dawn was looking at him, so he turned towards her and smiled. "There's no need to worry 'bout me." he says.

"I know," Dawn says quietly "but I just can't help it."

"I can understand, really..." Sonic knew Dawn was a little uncomfortable, so he decided to change the subject. "When are you and Shad plannin' on getting married?"

"Huh? Oh...Well, we haven't decided yet. We were plannin' on a long engagement but...If plans change, then we might marry at the end of this year or the start of the next one."

"I still can't believe my little girl's gettin' married already..." Sonic chuckled a bit "It only seemes like yesterday that I was able to hold ya in my arms and craddle you when you were sad or afraid...I just wish I could spend more time with you when you were a little girl."

"Don't feel that way. You'll be able to make up for it when you have grandchildren."

"Yeah..." Sonic suddenly turned towards Dawn and raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The shortest of pauses, but then Dawn says quickly "Oh, look. the news is on." Even though she tried to hide it, Sonic could clearly see the red flush on Dawn's cheeks. She was hiding something from him...but he'll find out what that secret is later.

"...large animal-like scratches all over the building." The news reporter on the television was standing in front of a concrete wall with rather large scratches all over them. It was then when the cameral panned over to something lying on the ground that was covered by a black leather sheet. "The body was found last night at around three in the morning. The Mobian was mauled to death; all of his internal organs were ripped out." Dawn stared at the television screen with a horrified look on her face.

"What the hell happened?!" she shrieked.

"I dunno," Sonic said quietly "but I don't think this is something Eggman would do..." Dawn turned towards Sonic, eyes wide.

"Do you think...Dr. finitevus did this?!"

"No," Sonic says calmly "we're dealing with something else here. Something worser than Egghead, Finitevus _and_ Scourge..." Dawn's eyes were wide, and her hands were shivering. By the calmness of Sonic's tone, she knew that he was telling the truth. But...who, or what for that matter, would do something like this? Dawn turned back towards the television and continued to listen to the rest of the news report, as well as seeing more bloody pictures and crying releatives of the victim on the screen.

* * *

Ten at night. Everyone in the castle is tucked in for the night. Sally was in the guest room, Dawn was in her room, and Sonic was in his room. Everyone was asleep, except for one. Dawn was wide awake; her duvets were pulled over her head, and her ears were moving like radars trying to pick up any abnormal sounds. Shad was right next to her, fast alseep, oblivious to his master's distress.

Dawn couldn't get that news report out of her head. She's dealt with the most evil beings on Mobius before...but she couldn't figure out who would do something like that, or _why_ they would do such a thing. If it wasn't Dr. Eggman, Scourge or Dr. Finitevus, then who was it? the reporter said that there were animal scratches all over the place, and the victim was mauled to death...So it must've been some type of creature that did it. But what kind of animal would attack a Mobian..? All the animals were harmless to Mobians, unless they were provoked. Unless it was something that was a _monster_ instead of an animal...

Dawn rolled over to her other side and sighed. _Staying up and thinking 'bout this won't help at all_ she thought _better get some sleep and think 'bout my life plans with Shadow..._Dawn closed her eyes slowly, finally starting to feel a little drowsy. she was about to fall asleep...but then...

Footsteps. Heavy, scratching footsteps. The same ones that sound like claws scratching the floors from the other night. Dawn shot awake. She sat up in her bed, ears moving desperately, to hear if there were anymore noises n the castle. A pause, and she sees a shadow under her door. a chill goes down Dawn's spine. Her quills harden defensively, and she's shivering worser than before. Twenty seconds...forty...a minutes and fifteen seconds...

The shadow shifts, and it begins to move. It's moving towards the right, so it's heading towards Sonic's room. But since the footsteps were closer this time, Dawn was able to listen closely to the sounds. The footsteps didn't sounds like claws scratching at the floors...they sounded more like..._spikes?_

Dawn hopped out of her bed and rushed to her door. She pressed her ear on the door and listened closely. No sounds coming from the other side...the oast is clear. Dawn opens the door slowly, making sure it wouldn't creak in the process. She scans the are again. No one there...She steps out of the room and tiptoes down the hall. If she's right, the shadow was going for Sonic's room. What if it was the same creature that attacked the Mobian last night? what if she's too late? what if the creature already made it to Sonic? What will happen if she saw it? will it go for her too? What if...

Dawn's right in front of the door. She's breathing fast. Her hands are shivering and she was downright afraid. Dawn held her breath, placed her hand on the door knob, turned it, and opened the door slowly. When she first looked into the room, it was fairly empty. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was an empty untidy bed. But it was only when she turned towards the window.

There, standing right in front of the window, was a dark blue-grayed creature with large arms and quills, was standing in front of the window. Dawn stood there, frozen in fear, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Standing at the window was a bulky dark blue furred creature with quills. It was wearing red and white shoes, with spikes on the bottom. The creature's ears twitched as they picked up Dawn's movements in the room. the creature turned around for the briefest moment before it jumped out of the window and disappeared into the night...

Even though the creature was gone, Dawn continued to stand there, frozen, terrified. But she wasn't terrified of the creature; she was terrified of _who_ the creature was. Dawn had a brief flashback of when she was still on Earth, living as a human. She was in her room, playing another one of her favorite Sonic games...**_Sonic Unleashed..._**

By then, she knew who did this to that poor Mobian and why she's been hearing these strange noises at night. It was Sonic..._the Werehog._

* * *

**End Notes:** Finally!! Sorry for the long wait, but the chapter's finally up! Also, I have internet at home now, so my stories are going to be updated more frequent than before.

I hope you guys like the fact that I added the werehog into this. I've been wanting to do it for a while. And there might be a little surprise in the next chapter, but I'm not spoiling.

Also, I'd like to apologize if there are some minor typos in here. The Document Manager on this site is messin' up my files for some odd reason...But I tried to fix it the best way I could.

Review if you want to, but all I ask is that you don't be mean if you write it. Nothing more, nothing less.

The next chapter to _"A Green Thorn"_ is underway, but don't expect to see the story updated anytime soon.

Thanks for reading! See you all next time, and God bless!


	3. Chapter 2

**_Double Trouble!_**

I was out of the castle in the heartbeat. I contacted Shadow through my communicator once I was outside. I told him to try to sense my Chaos energy and try to meet me in the forest. I was in hot pursuit of a possibly murderous werehog running around...

Since werehog Sonic was a lot slower than regular Sonic, it was fairly easy to follow him through the forest. Still, with those stretchy long arms, he could still move quickly when he's swinging around the trees. I also had to make sure he didn't see me either. I couldn't take my chances...If Sonic was what I think he is, then he'll kill me without hesitation. But...a part of me believed that sonic wasn't the one who killed that Mobian. Even in Sonic Unleashed, Sonic had complete control over himself and didn't murder anyone. But...how else can you explain the animal scratches? Still...

Sonic paused when he jumped down from one of the trees. I immediately hid behind one so he wouldn't see me or hear me. The longest of pauses...Sonic stood near the trunk of the tree. He lifted his head up a bit and sniffed the air around him. He grunted briefly, and then started to walk deeper into the forest, almost casually. I waited until he was deeper into the forest before I followed him. I didn't want to seem too obvious. After a few moments, I finally decided to follow my werehog father. But before I could go after him, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I didn't tense up, nor did I get startled. I could sense a large amount of Chaos energy behind me, and that only meant one thing; Shadow was here.

"Where is he?" he asked.

"He headed deeper into the forest," I replied, turning towards him "I don't think he's heading into Station Square."

"Let's follow him to be sure." A brief nod, and then we took off. We only jogged; if we ran, we would've created too much noise and Sonic would've known we were following him. Since he was walking, we didn't have to jog very far to catch up to him. He was standing in a clearing that was about a one hundred yards away. Shadow and I took cover in some bushes near a large oak, to make sure Sonic couldn't see us if we turned around.

He didn't do anything while he stood there. He just sat there, staring into the cluster of trees up ahead with his ears twitching in every direction. I wanted to confront him; I wanted to to see for myself if Sonic was a monster or not. I couldn't believe he was a killer, even in that form. I started to stand up, but Shadow grabbed my arm and pulled me back into the bushes. I started to protest, but Shadow placed his finger on my lips, shushing me instantly.

"You don't have to hide anymore. I know you both followed me." I jumped. Shadow and I looked up to see Sonic's head was half way turned. I could see a bit of a single glowing green orb looking directly at us. Our cover was blown, so there was no point in hiding anymore. I stepped out first, shadow followed me a few seconds later.

"Why'd you follow me?" Sonic asked. His voice was now deeper than before, and it seemed like whenever he spoke, he would growl a bit.

"Sonic," I started "I followed you because...because I thought you were the one who killed that Mobian...I mean, I couldn't believe you done it but, after I kept hearing you creep around the castle those nights, and then see you as a werehog, I had to find out..."

"It's completely understandable, really..." Sonic said as he turned towards the cluster of trees "but I'm not the killer. The reason I left was because I know who murdered the Mobian. And I plan to meet him here. But i didn't expect to see you out here. I checked to see if you were asleep before I left, but I guess I was wrong."

"Sonic," Shadow asked "who are you meeting out here?" Sonic opened his mouth to reply, but then his mouth closed when his ears twitched towards the trees. I could see his quills harden, and he let out a low growl as he hunched over a bit.

"Sonic, what's wrong?" I asked quietly.

"Shadow, you and Dawn take cover in the trees." Sonic growled.

"Why?"

"Don't argue! Just--" Sonic was cut off when something ran out of the trees and jumped on Sonic, instantly knocking him off of his feet. Sonic let out a roar, and then threw a punch to the creature's face. I screamed a little, but Shadow covered my mouth and pulled me into the bushes we were hiding in before. I was scared, I can't lie, but I wanted to see what was happening in the clearing ahead of us.

I was shivering, but I was able to move some of the branches aside to see Sonic still fighting the creature that jumped on him. Now that the moon was out, I was able to see more detail into him.

The creature was actually another werehog! But this one was green all over with gray hands, bulky arms, gray tips on its quills, long claws and fangs, and I could see an icy blue glow in its eyes. But it was when I saw a ripped black leather jacket with flames on the sleeves, and it was wearing black and green boots with spikes on the bottom. _The werehog was actually Scourge!_

Sonic let out another growl as he used his spiked feet to pin Scourge to the ground, and then he started to punch wildly at him. Scourge howled in pain, but he wasn't about to give up. Scourge was able to catch one of Sonic's punches and kick him off. Sonic stumbled backwards, and Scourge used that to his advantage. While Sonic was stunned momentarily, Scourge got up to his feet and slashed at Sonic with his long claws. Sonic was able to regain control at the right time since he was able to jerk his head back far enough to where it received a small nick on his right cheek. Scourge growled in frustration, and he slashed at Sonic again, only to miss again.

For some reason, I couldn't watch the fight anymore. I turned away from the scene and burried my head in Shadow's chest, hoping the two will stop soon. Shadow rubbed my back a bit, comforting me a little, but I still felt very uncomfortable.

"Dawn, look." Shadow says three minutes later. I was hesitant at first, but I was able to look back at the clearing. Both Sonic and Scourge were panting, but Scourge seemed to have taken to most damage. He had a few visible bruises on his body, and he looked more exhausted than Sonic. Scourge let out a roar of anger before he turned around and tried to run away back into the forest. But Sonic knew better. He used his stretchy arms to grab Scourge by the scruff of his neck and pull him back towards him. Scourge released roars of frustration as he tried to struggle out of Sonic's grip. But Sonic had a strong hold, and once Scourge was close enough to him, he put Scourge into a sleeper hold, and the green werehog was knocked out almost instantly.

When I felt it was safe, I emerged from the bushes and rushed over to Sonic. He was nursing a small bruise he obtained on his arm during the fight. When he heard me coming, he turned towards me and smiled a bit, but that smile faded when he looked down at a sleeping Scourge.

"You knew he was a werehog?" I asked.

"I got the idea when I got out the other night," Sonic replied "I saw him preying on another Mobian just a few miles away from the one he killed first. I was able to scare 'im off that time, but I knew he'd come after me tonight. So that's why I came out here."

"How did you turn into a werehog? And more importantly, how did _he_ turn into one?"

"I'll explain that later." Sonic picked up Scourge by all fours and threw him over his shoulder. "Let's take this big guy to Kintobor's lab for now."

"What will Kintobor do?" Shadow had crawled out of the bushes and joined Sonic and I by now.

"I want to see if he'll be able to figure out how Scourge turned into this and figure out why he's acting like an animal." Sonic replied. I wanted to ask more questions, but Sonic started to walk off before I could even open my mouth. I looked at Shadow, and we both started to follow the two werehogs to Moebius.

* * *

Sitting in front of a steel cage. Examining Scourge with intrest. He's on his stomach, sleeping peacefully. Sonic, Shadow and Kintobor are talking on the other side of the room, but I can't really hear what they're saying. Scourge growls a bit as he rolls over to his side. He must be dreaming. I start to wonder how both Sonic _and_Scourge turn into werehogs. It just seems too strange.

"I think the Anarchy Beryl had something to do with it." I was finally able to hear what Kintobor said when he, Sonic and Shadow walked over to the cage. Kintobor is basically the anti version of Dr. Eggman. Slimmer, soft eyes, very kind, and very smart. He walked around the cage, examining Scourge at every possible angle. "I still can't believe you two turned into werehogs at the same time..."

"I turned into this when I escaped from Eggman that night," Sonic explained "When I called out to the emeralds for help, they must've released some type of negative energy. That's what I believe."

"What 'bout Scourge?" I asked. Kintobor went quiet as he stared hard at the green menace.

"Maybe...just maybe...Dark Gaia must've influenced this."

"But how?" Sonic demanded "I sealed away Dark Gaia with Chip deep in the planet's core nearly eight years ago!"

"I never said Dark Gaia has awakened," Kintobor said calmly "All I said is that he might have had some influence on this. And I think it may have been the Dark Gaia of Anti-Mobius."

"Moebius has a Dark Gaia?" Shadow gasped.

"That's just _my_theory," Kintobor replied sheepishly "but we can't say that it's not a possibility. I can tell that finding the answer to this mystery won't be easy. However, the first priority is finding out why Scourge is having such a blood-lust while in this form."

A somewhat loud snarl came from the cage. We turned around to see Scourge stirring from his sleep. His eyes were opening up a little, and he was moving his arms and legs around.

"We should probably stand back," Kintobor said "Once he awakens, he's going to go on a mini rampage. He'll try to destroy the bars in order to get at us, possibly harming himself. We better give him his space." A roar echoes through the lab. Scourge is wide awake. His hands are wrapped around the bars of the cage tightly, and his muzzle is poking out through the bars. He roars again, shaking and kicking at the bars, his eyes filled with hatred. But, it was when I noticed that Scourge wasn't looking at _all_of us; his eyes were focused on Sonic the whole time. My guess would be that he's agitated that another werehog is in his territory, or he seeks revenge on Sonic for winning the battle in the forest.

Sonic wasn't intimidated. He hunched over and got on all fours. His quills hardened and stood up a little, responding to Scourge's threat roars. Sonic sneered, showing off his fangs and sowing Scourge that he wasn't afraid of him, and that he'll attack him with no mercy. Scourge roared again, but it was when Sonic released a sort of throaty growl when Scourge froze and stared at him. Seconds passed, and then Scourge hissed at Sonic with disgust before backing away in the cage a few paces. Once he was nearly touching the wall, he turned his back on us and sat down in an almost dog-like position.

This was the first time I ever saw Sonic and Scourge act so animal like up close. I mean, in Sonic Unleashed, Sonic doesn't act like an animal and acts like he's still a normal hedgehog. He only howls a few times, but that's it. But up close in real like, they almost act like wolves. Sonic must've been showing Scourge that he was the dominant male of this land, and Scourge was nothing more than a mere mutt. Scourge and Sonic are both werehogs, but for some reason, Sonic was bigger than Scourge. He must've knew that Sonic could overpower him, so that's why he backed down. It felt odd, watching my dad and my enemy act like wolves of the wild. I had to admit, I was rather fascinated.

"You didn't act like this when you first turn into a werehog, right?" I asked.

"I did," Sonic replied "but the Earth version of my adventure that time cut out all of that. Like when I killed those Dark Gaia monsters, I actually got covered in blood." I shuddered at the image. Just to see Sonic killing those creatures, especially with blood spewing from their bodies, it was a bit horrific.

I hadn't noticed how close I was to the cage until I heard Scourge hitting the bars with his nails. I turned towards the cage to see him poking his muzzle through the cage and looking at me. His eyes had softened, and he looked calmer than he was before. He rubbed his head on the bars like a cat.

"I think he wants you to touch him, Dawn." Shadow chuckled.

"Yeeeah...I don't think so." I replied, backing away from the cage slightly. Scourge grunted a bit, and rubbed his head on the bars harder, still looking at me. Though I didn't want to admit it, he looked cute to me, acting like a dog or a cat, begging for attention.

"Maybe you should pet him." Kintobor suggested, examining the scene.

"I don't think so...he probably recognize me!"

"I doubt it," Sonic said "he didn't recognize me, but he saw me as a threat to his territory."

"I still don't know..."

"Just pet him on the head." Shadow urged. I look at Scourge, and his head was pressed against the bars. I could tell by the look on his face that he was expecting me to pet him. I sighed, knowing that there was no way out of this. I approached the cage slowly, trying not to show any signs that I was afraid of him. Scourge pressed himself on the bars more, as if excited. My hand was shaking a bit, but I placed my hand on top of Scourge's head.

Scourge's tail started to wag with happiness, and he tried to lick my hand. I pulled back immediately, leaving Scourge looking confused by my actions.

"You're cute," I said backing away "but I still don't like you."

"Are you planning on staying here?" Kintobor asked.

"I'm not so sure," I replied quietly "Mom might wonder where I went off to if I'm not back before she wakes up."

"I can inform Sally on what's happening," shadow suggested "Besides, I want to stay and find out more about the werehogs."

"I'll call the queen then." Kintobor then bowed before he left and went into the other room. Shadow and Sonic started to talk for a bit while I just stood there in discomfort. I've been feeling queasy for the last week or so, and I knew why. But Sonic and Shadow don't know anything about it. I almost gave myself away when I talked to Sonic that night, but I felt that wasn't the time or place to tell them. I wanted to tell them both at the same time, at the right place. I had to tell them soon, but I felt like this wasn't the right place...But waiting's dangerous. By the end of the month I'll...

No. I _have_to tell them now. It may not be the right place, but it was definitely the right time. I opened my mouth to tell them, but then I closed it. What if the news was false? But...that's not true...I was positive that I was. But...would they accept it? Would Sonic be mad at me? Would Shadow reject me?

No...don't think like that Dawn. Shadow's been bugging me for months about me not marrying him...Why would things change now? Besides, if I don't tell them now and I try to keep it a secret, that will only make things worse.

"Somethin' wrong kiddo?" I jumped, startled. Sonic and shadow were looking at me; both of them had worried looks on their faces.

"Are you ok?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah...I...just need to sit down for a bit..." I replied sheepishly. Shadow held my hand and led me over to a couple of chairs in the lab. I sat in one and Shadow sat next to me; Sonic decided to stand up. My heart was pounding; I was so nervous! But anyone would be...It's only natural.

"Um..."

"Dawn...is something wrong?" Shadow asked again, the worry in his voice was unnoticeable.

"No it's just...I...have to tell you both something but...I'm afraid to tell you..."

"You can tell me anythin' sweetie," Sonic said "I'm your old man, ain't I?" That phrase has almost became his trademark in the family. He always says that when I'm afraid to tell him something I've been holding back for a while. It works though.

"Well..." I started "um...I've been feeling a little...sick for the last couple of weeks and well...I...know the cause...but it's just--"

"But it's just what?" Shadow asked.

"It's just...you two might not..."

"Dawn," Sonic said quietly "just tell us what's going on. there's no need to be afraid. We'll be here no matter what happens, always." He wasn't lying. i can remember a lot of times in the past where these two stayed by my side whenever I got in trouble, or needed support. I could count on them both whenever I needed them...Still...

"W-well...Shadow...Dad....I'm...I'm pregnant..."

* * *

**End Notes: **Another chapter ends with a cliffhanger. Don't you just love 'em? XD

I'm not really sure how I'm going to pick this up in the next chapter, but I'll try my best. And yes, the last line is true, and it's going to stay that way for the rest of the story.

I know you're tired of hearing it, but the next chapter to this as well as _"A Green Thorn" _will be delayed. sorry, but it's true. Also, sorry if there are some minor typos. I proof-read before I submit the chapters, but some typos seem to escape from me XD

Review if you want, but all I ask is that you don't be mean.

Thanks for reading everyone! See you next time, and God bless you all! :D


	4. Chapter 3

**_Baby Blues pt. 1_**

There were numerous emotions going through me right now...But the one emotion that overpower them all was happiness. I mean, when I thought about it, I never thought I could sire children...To think that I, the Ultimate Lifeform, was going to be a father...I was completely overjoyed. But embarrassment soon took over when I realized that Sonic know as well. Sonic and I are friends now, but when it came to his daughter, it was an entirely different story.

I faced Sonic while my cheeks turned red from embarrassment. How could I explain how _this_ happened?

"Mind telling me when, where and _how_ this happened?" Sonic asked crossing his arms. Usually when Sonic gets agitated, I'm not intimidated. But while he's a werehog, he's a little scary to be honest...

"Um...a week ago, in the forest when we were gone that day, and I think you know how..." Dawn replied sheepishly.

"Sonic, if you want to blame anyone, blame me," I started "I'm sor--"

"No need to apologize."

"Wha...?"

"I'm happy that you and Dawn are gonna have a baby. I've been wanting grandchildren anyway. The thing that really upsets me is that..."

"I didn't tell you I was sexually active." Dawn finished.

"Bingo."

"I was gonna tell ya but...I was embarrassed."

"Don't worry 'bout it kiddo. It happened, and there's nothing we can do 'bout it." Sonic then turned towards me. He had a serious look on his face. "Shadow, do me a favor and take Dawn back to Knothole. Take her to Dr. Quack to confirm the pregnancy. I gotta finish up things here. My number one priority is finding out how Scourge and I turned into werehogs."

"Understood." I took Dawn's hand before I pulled out my Chaos Emerald, which was the green one. "Let's go."

* * *

_**Month 1**_

I did as Sonic instructed and went to Dr. Quack. We found out that Dawn is indeed pregnant, like we didn't already know that. The doctor warned us that Dawn would be feeling sick for the first month or so. And then the cravings will come, and then the mood swings. He says we should do regular check-ups once or twice a month. He also gives us a few booklets on raising a baby. We thank him and head home.

It's mid-afternoon. Sonic hasn't returned from Moebius. We spend the time telling the village that we're expecting children. Everyone's overjoyed, especially Sally, Evra, Brendon and the rest of the Freedom Fighters. Cyrus was downright shocked, but he was happy all of the same. Sally advises us that we should tie the knot early than planned. She think's it'll be better for the baby. We appreciate her advice, but I respect Dawn's wishes and we tell her we'd rather wait. The females start to plan a baby shower.

Later on that day, Sonic finally returns and is his normal self. Says that Scourge is safe on Moebius, and all connections between the two worlds have been cut off. He doesn't want Scourge to know that Dawn's pregnant, out of fear that he might try to hurt Dawn and the baby. The four of us start talking separately about child care in the castle. Sally and Dawn are in the master bedroom, and i'm in the parlor with Sonic. He advises me to watch Dawn closely when she starts to have mood swings. He told me to never be afraid of her since pregnant females smell fear in their mates. We laugh at the joke. Advises me to be there for Dawn each step of the way in the pregnancy, and I should never be afraid to ask for help when I need it. I thank him for the advice.

It's later on that night. Sonic and Sally says that Dawn should move in with me now. We were a bit shocked at first, but then we realized that it was about time that we did. This was only temporary since I'll have to move into the castle once Dawn and I marry. Dawn comes over to my home that night along with Shad and we spent time together, talking about our future together and how life would be with our new baby. I ask her if she knows if its a boy or a girl. She giggles and says "Once I start to blow up like a balloon, I'll know then." We tuck in for the night and head for bed. Today was the best day of my immortal life...

Two weeks into the pregnancy, and I notice that Dawn has been getting sick. Dr. Quack gave her medicines to help ease the discomfort, so she's holding up well. She's been also telling me that she's been having some pains in her stomach. I cuddle her and say that it's the baby growing in her womb, and it comforts her.

Dr. Eggman attack Station Square today. All of the Freedom Fighters leave immediately, but I tell Dawn to stay here, and put her in the care of Julie-su and Mina. I kiss her before I leave, and then I follow Sonic to Station Square.

The doctor flies through Station Square following his newest creation, the Egg-Rex. It was a destructive beast, crushing buildings, setting fire to anything, and giving terror to the Mobians that inhabit the city.

"You think we're afraid of your oversized lizard?" Sonic's usual cockiness can't be avoided "We'll knock that scrap of metal back to extinction!" If only he knew how terrible that line was...

"Enough!" Dr. Eggman growls "Take this! Egg-Rex, fire missles!" Holes appeared on the machine's arms and legs. Projectiles fly out, aiming for all of us. Knuckles catches one of the massive missles and attempts to throw it back at the monster. Miss by inches, but the missle flies into the air and explodes, far away from the Mobians. Sonic and I take out the remaining missles by Spin Dashing each. The Egg-Res catches me off gaurd and graps me in mid-air. Threatens to crush me like a fly. This new machine is stronger than I expected, and I almost collapse under it's weight. Thinking of all of the things I'll miss if this new robot manages to kill me. I won't be able to see my child grow...Power pours into my body, and I use Chaos Control to freeze the robot in time. Bunnie uses her cannon to finish the Egg-Rex off. I find a way out of its robotic hand before impact. Knuckles sends Dr. Eggman flying by punching his Egg-Robo into oblivion. Dr. Eggman threatens to come back as he flies away. Cheers rise from the Mobians once the fighting is over, and repairs to the damaged half of the city are planned.

I arrive home four hours later. Dawn is realized to see me back unharmed. I told her I substained a minor injury to my left arm, but overall, I'm fine. Ask Julie-Su and Mina how Dawn was while we were gone. They tell me she was fine. She threw up a few times, and was worried sick about me, but she was fine. Sonic and Sally take us out to dinner to congradulate us on the new baby. I can't refuse. Sally tells us that we'll have to tell the press that we're expecting a baby. I'm a little nervous, but Sonic said that we can wait until this month is over before we come clean. Better tell them now and not wait later.

The month finally ends, and I noticed that Dawn's abdomen has gotten a tad bigger. The baby's growing, and that's a good thing. No offense, but I don't want what happened to Sally to repeat! Dawn and I start to make wedding plans. I was surprised by Dawn's ideas. She either wants a casual wedding, have the wedding here in Knothole or in Apotos. I say it'll be more picturesque if the wedding was in Adabat. she considers the idea, and writes it down as a strong possibility. We start to wonder if we should get married before or after the baby is born. We can't decide, so we say we'll have the wedding in between. the day ends, we go to bed. I start to wonder how the upcoming months will have in store for us.

* * *

_**Month 2**_

Dawn and I head for Dr. Quack for Dawn's monthly check-up. We're having an ultrasound session. I'm excited. Dr. Quack let's us see the development of our baby. Dr. Quack examines the fetus, and is shocked by what he finds. We learn that Dawn's not carrying one child, but _two!_ We're overjoyed. Dawn is confused since the fetus growing in her womb grew faster than a human fetus. Dr. Quack and I explain that anthros' young grow faster in the womb than humans. And since Dawn is a hedgehog, the pregnancy will last no more than four or five months. With the pregnancy cut short, we're no doubt excited. The check-up ends, and we hurry home.

When we're back in Knothole, we tell everyone that we're having twins. Everyone's overjoyed, but Sonic has to be the happiest of the bunch. Sonic knows that Dawn's pregnancy is going to by short, and advises us to start considering an earlier marriage. The girls hurry off and start to plan the baby shower. It'll either be next month or the month after that. Sonic tells us that it's time that we come clean to the press. He already spread the word out and we'll have to come clean tonight. I become nervous.

Seven o' clock that night. Time to meet the press. Everyone's metting in the throne room. Dawn dresses up in her royal gown, and I dress up by wearing a cape and a crown. Sonic and Sally advises me to wear this since I have to get ready to become a king once I marry Dawn. Camera flash as the four of us enter the throne room. I've never been so nervous in my life. I'm jittery, and my palsm sweat like crazy. Dawn sooths my discomfort, but I'm still nervous. Dawn and I take our seats on the new thrones that were added. Sonic adresses the press soon after.

"I know you all are very anxious to hear of the news that I have informed you off," Sonic says "but please be patient and save your questions until after we're done explaining everything." Sonic turns to the both of us and smile. He gestures us to come forward and speak. We're hesitant at first, but we finally have the courage to walk up on the stage and tell everyone the news.

"My fellow Mobians," I say "I am pleased to announce that Princess Dawn and I are expecting children in the next couple months." Loud gasps and murmurs soon arose from the crowd. Dawn waves her hand for quiet, and the room soon falls silent.

"Shadow and I are also panning on marrying in the same time frame," she says "but it is still unknown if we'll marry before or after the baby is born." Immediately after we were done, questions start to explode from their mouths.

"When was the baby conceived?"

"How many children will you two have?"

"Where is the wedding going to be held?"

"How does King Sonic feel about this?" This was going to be a long night...

Three weeks into the month. In that little amount of time, Dawn's stomach has gotten bigger. She's been having cravings now. Loves sneaking downstairs at night and raiding the freezer of ice cream. I catch her most of the time, and we spend some nights staying up and eating ice cream. Her craving for sweets gets worse over the next course of days, but we try to keep it under control by giving her regular food and then the sweets. When I'm not helping out with missions, I stay home with Dawn and bond with my children. I talk to them, letting them know that their father was there for them. I bought a few children books and read to them on occasion. I ask Dawn what genders the babies are. She shurgs and say that she can't tell, but she believes one's a boy and the other is a girl. We start to think up names for our kids. Nothing comes to mind at first, so we give up and decide to try again another day. The month ends, and we search for baby furniture.

* * *

_**Month 3**_

Dawn's steadily getting bigger. She's telling me that she's feeling the babies move around in her womb. I try to feel them, but I missed every time. I get a little discouraged, but I don't give up. It was a lazy day during one of the weeks. Dawn and I were in the living room, going to catelogs of the latest baby furniture. See a crib that'll be perfect for a girl. Kisses Dawn's bloated womb and tells the babies that we'll make their rooms beautiful. I feel a sudden tap on the palm of my hand. One of the babies kicked me. I'm overjoyed, and I begin to nuzzle Dawn's stomach. I start to cry small tears of joy. _They know I'm here..._

Later on that day, Dawn, Shad and I are in the kitchen preparing lunch. Dawn's sitting in one of the chairs, hand on her stomach, watching Shad and I. Shad is sitting next to me, eagerly licking his lips for food. I sneak him a peice of sliced roast beef from my sandwich. He eats it happily.

"Stop it!" Dawn suddenly snaps. Shad and I turn towards her, confused. She's looking down at her round belly, rubbing it a bit.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"They're kicking!" Dawn replies.

"I thought that was a good thing."

"It is, but they're kicking each other!" I tilt my head in confusion. _They're having their first sibling fight inside of Dawn's womb..?_ Dawn jumps as she feels another kick from the children. "Cut it out, you two," she says "Don't make me come down there." I shake my head and laugh. Things are definately going to get interesting around here...

Another week passes, and it was time for the baby shower. Dawn, Shad and I head for Bunnie's house. All of the females are there. Sonic, Knuckles and I are the only males. Sonic and Sally are first to present their gifts. Their gift is two new cribs for the babies. One has a pink canopy over it for the girl, and the other is shaped like a race car, for the male. We thank them both. Everyone else give us the usual, but expansive gifts. Blankets, stuffed animals, accesories, clothing...Everything goes by smoothly. that is, until shad tried to chew up a stuffed animal. He's banned out of the room. Soon after, we start to think up names for the babies. We did boy names first. We came up with these five names:

Xaiver

Donnie

Eclipse

Comet

Chaos

The five girl names we came up with are:

Xeena

Desiree

Luna

Twilight

Gem

We like all of the names, so we write them down. It's hard to decide what to name them now, so we decide to wait until the baies are born. We're reminded that there's only less than two months left before the children arrive. Excitment turns into worry. Will there be any complications during the birth? Will my children be healthy? More importantly...will my children like me and see me as their father...? No. That's ridiculous. Dawn adjusted to Sonic well. My children should do the same. Before we know it, the month ends. Less than two more months to go...

* * *

_**Month 4**_

Not even a week into the month when we hear that Scourge has appeared on Mobius. The problem is we don't know where he is. What made it worse is that Dawn and I were far from the village in Central City when the call comes. I noticed that Dawn has been slowing down lately...That only meant that it was almost time for the children to arrive. I almost panic, but I keep my cool. I have to in order to keep my family safe. I don't rush Dawn, I move her away from the public as much as I can in order to Chaos Control without causing harm to Mobians. Moments later, Dawn comes to a sudden stop. She's staring at me blankly. I start to ask what was wrong, but it was when I realize that she's looking _past_ me.

I immediately turned around to see what was wrong, only to have my quills hardened defensively. Standing behind me was a green hedgehog wearing a black leather jacket with flames on the sleeves, red sunglasses, black ripped jeans and black and green boots. It was Scourge.

I push Dawn behind me and sneer at Scourge, but he isn't fazed. He's focused on Dawn the entire time. Scourge seemed to have gotten older in the last years. He's taller, and his face looks older. I feel Dawn's hand tighten around mine.

"What do you want?" I growl.

"I _was_ here to cause a little trouble since it's been a long time," he replied coolly "but I never expected _this_ little surprise."

"You better not lay a finger on Dawn..."

"Is she pregnant?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. and you're not touching her, _**or**_ my kids!"

"'Ey, I may be a bad guy, but I don't mess with the kiddies. I'm not that heartless."

"Then leave."

"Hmmm...fine. I'll let ya off easy this time, just for the sake of your babies. I'll come back later." Scourge then tipped his invisible hat to us before he sped off. As soon as he left, I immediately Chaos Controlled awn and I out of Central City and back into my home. Once Dawn was in the care of one fo the Freedom Fighters, I left to pursue Scourge and make sure he wouldn't come anywhere near my family..._If_ we catch him, that is.

Later that evening, I return home. Scourge managed to get away, but I make a promise to myself to catch him soon. Mina informs me that Dawn has been complaining of minor pain in her stomach area. My stomach turns. I know that only meant one thing: She was close to going into labor, but not _too_ close. Something tells me that this month might go by slower than it's supposed to. I stay home that day and comfort my mate. She tells me that it's almost time. I believe her. I just hope that nothing tries to harm my children in the end...

* * *

**End Notes:** I hope it's not rushed. It feels rushed but...

Anyhoo, I'm going to ask for your advice; Should Dawn have a home birth or should it be in the hospital? Tell me your answer in your reveiw (if you want to review, that is). The one that has the most votes will be the one that appears in the next chapter. However, I already decided the names for the kids, so...yeah XD

This chapter will _not_ be delayed, surprisingly. Expect the next chapter to appear either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. However, the next chapter to _"A Green Thorn"_ won't be up for a while...

I'm also sorry if there are errors in this chapter. Spellchecker isn't workin' for some odd reason...But when it DOES start working, I'll look for those errors and fix them immiedately.

Thanks for reading, guys! See you next time, and God bless! ^^


	5. Chapter 4

**_Baby Blues pt. 2_**

_**Final Month**_

It was a week or so into the last month. I've been keeping an especially close eye on Dawn for a while now. Sonic advised me to get a lot of blankets and towels just in case we have a home birth. I take the time going out to Station Square and buying the the materials I need, and then hurry home. Dawn seems to be alright. She was in the living eating a bowl of ice cream like always. She tells me she feels the twins kicking around in her womb. I'm happy.

Two more weeks past, and still nothing. I'm becoming anxious. Poor girl looks like she's going to pop at any moment...Though, I'm glad that it's been quieter around here. G.U.N lets me off for these months in order to be with my family. I really didn't see the point, honestly. There weren't any missions coming in anyway. Everyone's been coming over to my home to check up on Dawn. Everyone's as anxious as I am. Dawn has been complaining of minor pain, but it's not a contraction. For some odd reason, this doesn't feel right...

The fifth month ended and it's now going into the sixth. Dawn should've had the children last week, right? Maybe the pregnacy is different in every female...Still, I couldn't help but to worry. But...what if my children...are...dead..? Is that why...is that why she hasn't gone into labor yet..?

It was the fourth or fifth day into the sixth month. Knuckles, Tails, Sonic and I were on the second floor turning one of the old bedrooms into the childrens' room. Sonic and I were busy with the cribs, while Tails and Knuckles tried to repaint the walls. I started to think about how life would be like once the children are born. We'll be a family of four then. We'll bond together...I get to experience what it's like to be a father...Dawn and I will be married by then. I just hope my children won't go through the same thing Sonic went through after Dawn was born!

An hour passes, and Sonic and I are finished with the first crib. We start to move on to the next, but then Rouge bursts into the room. She's panting, and fear is written all over her face.

"Dawn's in labor!" she gasps. All movement stops.

"What?" that's the only thing I could say.

"Dawn's water just broke, and she's in a lot of pain..." Rouge replies. I don't know what happened after that, but the only thing I remember was nearly jumping down all of the stairs and rushing over to Dawn. The girls made a large pallet for her on the floor. The coffee table was moved to the other side of the room, and Dawn was sitting up against the couch. She was panting badly, and I could tell by her face that she was indeed in a lot of pain.

"How far apart are the conctractions?" Sonic demanded as he rushed over to his daughter.

"They're coming fast," Julie-su replies "Nearly a minute or less apart each."

"Is the baby crowning?"

"Yes!"

"Someone call a doctor!" Absolute chaos. All of the Freedom Fighters who were in my home were scurrying everywhere, trying to find something to comfort Dawn. Mina was on the phone contacting either Dr. Quack or Dr. Kintobor. Dawn was holind my hand tightly, and it hurt like **HELL!** Still, I gritted my teeth and ignored the pain as much as I could. Dawn was more important than my own sake.

"Dr. Quack is on his way!" I hear Mina shout. Sonic just nods as he continues to tend to his daughter. Sally is here as well, speaking softly and telling Dawn to push and breathe. I'm not the one in labor, and for some reason, I feel great pain in my stomach area...

Dr. Quack comes fifteen minutes later. Immediately asks us how long Dawn's been in labor. We say forty-five minutes to an hour. Dawn screams as she tries to push one of the children out. My ears are ringing, but I know this will be worth it in the end...

**"It HUUUUUUUUURTS!" **Dawn shrieks. I cringe. My poor girl...

"The head's out!" I hear Dr. Quack say. I heart starts to beat faster. My first child is almost here...just a little more...And then, I become curious. I never knew what giving birth looked like. Curiousity takes over, and I peer over and look in between Dawn's legs and I see...

Blood, lot's of blood...some white goo, and a distorted head and part of the body...My stomach turns...Everything goes black...

* * *

"Shadow...Shadow! Wake up..." I'm lying on the floor for some odd reason. I open my eyes and sit up. Everyone's around me and Dawn. It's a lot quieter than it was before. My head's spinning...

"What happened..?" I asked dumbly.

"You fainted." Sonic replied chuckling. My cheeks turn bright red. _How embarrassing..._I start to ask why it was so quiet now, but that's when I hear something like...a baby cooing...

I look over at Dawn. She's holding something wrapped up in a light blue blanket. I can tell that this was the boy. She looks up at me and smiles, and then motions me to come over. I'm nearly overwhelmed. That's my baby..._my _child...I nearly crawl over to Dawn. Almost my entire body is trembling. I sit down next to her, and she hands me the baby. He flails a little in discomfort, but he soon calms down once I hold him. His eyes are half open, and his breathing is soft. He has his thumb near his mouth.

I feel tears forming in my eyes. But they're tears of joy. This is what I've been waiting for...a family I can call my own...

"The little guy's completely healthy." I hear Dr. Quack say.

"Where's the girl?" I ask, but it comes out as a whisper almost.

"She hasn't come out yet," Blaze replies "It might be another hour or so before Dawn has another contraction."

"I don't think we'll have to wait that long..." Dawn moans. Sonic and Sally immediately rush over to Dawn. I give my new son to Rouge to care for while I help Dawn give birth to my daughter. Ten minutes into it, and Dawn's screaming like there's no tomorrow. She's sweating badly, and I can tell that she's exhausted. I hear someone say that the baby's crowning. I cringe when I get that mental image from before...And then I hear something go _squish..._That hit a nerve. I start to feel dizzy, and I fall to the floor.

"Did he faint again?" I hear Sonic say.

* * *

"I'm never doing that again..." Twice. I fainted _twice. _Watching child birth at that! I've faced giant prototype lizards, taken on demonic aliens, and fought two types of monsters who's only purpose was to destroy time. But the _one_ thing I can't handle is _chilbirth!_ What kind of Ultimate Lifeform am I? My head starts to spin again when I sit up, but it's not as bad for when it happened the first time. The first thing I see is Rouge and Knuckles getting rid of some dirty towels. I look over to see Dawn holding my son again. Mina comes up to me, holding something wrapped in a pink blanket. It was my daughter. I take her in my arms immiedately. Her eyes are completely closed; she's asleep.

I move over to Dawn and sit next to her. Her eyes look heavy, her ears are dropping a bit, her quills are a bit messy, and she looks downright tired.

"We have to name them." she whispers to me. I look down at my new baby girl. She's still asleep, maybe even dreaming. And then an idea strikes.

"Can we name her 'Maria'?" I suddenly ask. Dawn smiles softly.

"Of course." she says. "Can we name the boy 'Cinos'?"

"Cinos?"

"It's dad's name spelled backwards. I thought we could name him that in honor of him..." I smile at Dawn.

"Of course."

"Let her rest," Sally says as she takes Cinos out of Dawn's arms "You're exhausted, Dawn. We'll take care of the children."

"Thank you..." Dawn's voice trailed off as her eyes began to close. Soon, her breathing slowed, and we knew then that she was asleep. I kiss Dawn on her forehead and stroke her quills a bit. _She did a great job..._

"Congradulations Shadow," Sonic says as he places his hand on my shoulder "You're officially a new father."

I smile "I'm looking forward to being the father I need to be." I say.

* * *

**End Notes:** I know it's a short chapter, but it was going to be short to begin with. This was just the second part to the previous chapter, so it was expected to be short.

Thanks for your votes, everyone! Home birth had the most votes, so that's what I went with. Though, I just had to put in Shadow fainting. He may be the Ultimate Lifeform, but he has a few weaknesses XD

I HAD to name the girl Maria. I thought of the name "Cinos" later because I couldn't think of anything. However, I'm going to give them middle names, but I don't know what their middle names should be. If any of you have any suggestions, please tell me through either your review (IF you review) or through a private message if you want.

I'm not sure if the next chapter will be delayed or not, but please be patient until the chapter is up.

Thanks for reading, guys! See ya next time, and God bless! :3


	6. Chapter 5

**_Kidnapped!_**

Cold, snow, wind...The worse conditions to fight in. Dr. Eggman decided to strike Holoska when we weren't looking. While the others were evacuating the poor citizens of this continent, Sonic, Silver, Knuckles and I were busy trying to stop the doctor from entering the hidden temple of the place. It was dark out now, and Sonic was in his werehog form (Kintobor hasn't found a cure for it yet). By using his newfound strength and his ability to stretch his arms, Sonic eaisly punched holes into the doctor's new machine.

Silver was using his telekinesis to sharpen icicles and then hurl them at Eggman, turning them into missles of death. Knuckles and I were able to sneak behind the machine while it was distracted and found it's power source. Knuckles easily ripped open the metal covering for it to reveal it's power; a Chaos Emerald. It was the purple one. I tried to grab it, but as soon as I touched it, I was hit with some sort of energy shock, sending me flying. As I hit a wall of snow and ice, I heard the doctor laughing overhead.

"It's no use!" he cackled "The emerald is protected within the Egg Titan! Even if my creation is destroyed, the emerald will remain intact!"

"Dammit!" I hear Sonic growl and he climbs up onto the Egg Titan and starts to punch wildly at its robotic face "We gotta get that emerald out!" I was back on my feet in no time. I teleported back behind the Egg Titan and examined the emerald more closely. Just as the doctor said, there was indeed a force field around the emerald. There must be someway to deactivate the field...

The Egg Titan was heavily damaged, but it still fought on. Knuckles decided to join in on the brawl while I was busy trying to free the emerald, and maybe disable the Egg Titan while I'm at it. So far, I didn't see anything that might be of some use to get rid of the force field. But that's when I saw wires going around the emerald and pumping energy into the Egg Titan. _Bingo._

I immediately slammed my fist into the small opening and ripped out more than a handful of wires. It wasn't long before sparks began to fly and smoke began to spew out. The force field flickered for a bit, and then it faded down and disappeared completely. Once the field was down, I grabed the emerald and yanked it out of its prison. After that, the Egg Titan suddenly stopped. It started to creak, and then it fell to the ground. The fight was over.

Sonic and the others gathered around, glad that I was able to stop the Egg Titan. I turned towards the doctor, tossed the emerald up and down in my hand and stared intently at Eggman.

"I _should_ kill you..." I growl. I saw Eggman jump a bit.

"O-oh no...That won't be necessary," he stammers "Um...gotta go!" Dr. Eggman then blasted off in full speed in his Egg-o-Matic.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" I hear Silver shout.

"Let 'em go," Sonic says coolly "We'll get 'im next time." We soon began to get rid of what was left of the Egg Titan and returned the residents into their original homes. Once we were done with them, we headed home ourselves...

* * *

It felt so good to finally come home. The warm air was very refreshing than the cold winds of Holoska. The others decided to stay for a bit since it's been a while since Silver visited us. He also wanted to see the children. Dawn was sitting on the floor with Maria and Cinos in front of her. Both Maria and Cinos' fur are ebony colored like mine and their quills were curved upwards, so they look a bit like twins. However, there are some differences in them. Maria had dark blue eyes, a tan muzzle and torso, and she had rings around the tips of her quills that were crimson colored like my stripes.

Cinos was ebony like Maria and I. However, Cinos had one red eye and one icy blue eye. The tips of his quills were snow white like his mother's, tan muzzle, there were white stripes on his arms and legs that were the same as mine, and for some reason, there was a single white stripe going down his right eye. He was the more unique of the twins in my opinion.

Even though the two were only born just a few days ago, they were already active and moving around. Cinos seemed to be the most active. I noticed that he kept trying to stray away from Dawn, only to get pulled back. Maria was the more laid back of the two, looking content as she sat there in her mother's arms.

"Have they been any trouble, hon?" I asked Dawn as I sat next to her.

"No," she replies "they've been well behaved."

"They're gorgeous." Silver cooed.

"Aren't they?" I bragged "They took genes from both of us." I picked up Maria and cuddled her. She gurgled happily and she reached for my nose and grabbed it. "Hey you! Let that go."

"Do you want to hold Cinos, Silver?" Dawn asked as she picked up our son.

"Sure!" Dawn delicately handed Cinos to Silver. Cinos objected a bit, whining and reaching for Dawn a little. But when he saw Silver's face, he suddenly calmed down. He then reached up and pulled at one of Silver's quills. "Don't do that!" Silver chuckled.

"Have they been fed?" I asked.

"Yes. I fed them not too long ago." Dawn replied. I started to feel Maria nibble at my arm a bit. But it wasn't a hungry-like nibble; it was more like an affectionate nibble. I chuckled a bit as I cuddled her a bit more. I could tell that me and her were going to have a close bond in the future...

"We'll have to introduce the twins to the public soon." Sonic says.

"I know," I reply while turning towards him "I just hope that, since everyone's going to meet them, I don't want the wrong people to hear like the doctor, and they try to hurt them..."

"We'll never let anyone hurt the twins!" Amy says confindently.

"If _anyone_ tries to harm my grandchildren, they'll have to get through al of us." Sally adds. I wanted to say thank you, but I was cut off when Cinos started crying. Dawn sighed as she took Cinos from Silver and held her in her arms.

"He's hungry..._again."_ she says.

"I thought you already fed him?" I ask.

"I did," Dawn replies "but he's a bottomless pit." While Dawn tried to calm Cinos down until she got him fed, she walked out of the living room and into the kitchen. I sighed and I held Maria tighter.

"The joys of being a father." I mutter to myself.

"Tell me about it." Sonic adds.

* * *

It was later that night. The twins were tucked into bed and asleep, but Dawn and I were still up. We were going through magazines our friends gave us to look for materials for our wedding. Dawn said she'd pick out her dress with the girls, but she could help me pick out a tuxedo. Still, we couldn't decide where to have the ceremony would take place, though. We were still considering having it take place in Adabat, though. It seems like such a perfect place to have it.

"Hey, Shadow?"

"Yes?"

"You mind if I go check on the twins?"

"No, go ahead." Dawn gave me a quick smooch on my cheek before she trotted upstairs. While she was gone, I continued to look at the magazines. I still couldn't find the tuxedo I wanted...I didn't want anything too fancy or expansive, but I didn't want a cheap one either. Maybe I'll just rent one instead of--

"SHADOW!" I immediately turned around to see Dawn half way down the stairs, her face filled with terror and panic.

"What is it?" I demanded.

"Maria's gone!"

* * *

"Chip, Cyrus and Rouge, I want you tofly around search the surrounding area like a fine tooth comb! Even Search Moebius if you have to, but make SURE you get Maria found! Everyone else, scout the entire area and ask questions if you have to! We will _NOT_ rest until my grandchild is found, understand?"

"UNDERSTOOD!"

Everyone soon scurried off in different directions. Tails, Rotor and Brendon got into the X-Tornado and took to the air wirh Chip, Cyrus and Rouge. Silver also took to the air, using his ESP to fly around and search for my missing child. The others ran to who knows where, but they were trying their best to find Maria.

I was about to do the same, but that's when I noticed Dawn...Her back was turned, and she was holding both of her arms. I walked over to her slowly and held her tightly.

"Why would someone do something like this..?" she croaked. I could tell by how her voice cracked that she was crying.

"We'll find her..." I said, trying to sooth her. But I knew my words seemed like false comfort...but I needed to start somewhere...

But she DID have a good point...Who the **_hell_** would steal a baby? If the doctor done it, we would've known automatcially...No enemy we know of would kidnap a child. They'd either kidnap one of the older ones like Cream and hold them hostage, but not a baby. The person who did it was very slick and clever to get away with it and leave nothing behind...I'm not so sure if the doctor knew Dawn and I had kids, but he didn't act like it...The only person who's our enemy who knows this is...

My hand clenches into a _very_ tight fist. _That bastard..!_

"Dawn," I tried to talk through my gritted teeth, but it only came out as a growl "we're going to Moebius..."

"Wha..?"

"You'll see why. Contact your father right away and tell him to go to Castle Moebius. Tell him to recall the others if he has too." Before Dawn could ask anymore questions, I held her hand and teleported to Moebius...If my hunch is right, we'll find my daughter there...

* * *

I was running at full speed through the castle with Dawn at my side. I could feel Maria's energy in here...It was distant at first, but it's been getting stronger...She must be in the throne room then. I started to slow down a bit, realizing that I shouldn't tax Dawn like this after she just recently given birth. The energy I've been feeling is getting stronger...she _must _be in the throne room then...

A few more paces and...we're there. I stop just when we're half way into the room. Dawn's scanning the room restlessly, but my eyes were glued ahead...I see someone sitting on the throne, and I know who it is.

"Lookin' for me, Stripes?" My quills hardened instantly. The shadow that was on the throne suddenly stood up and walked forward. The shadow stopped when it it stepped into the moonlight that was coming through one of the windows. Just as I thought, that shadow was Scourge, and in his arms...was Maria...

"MARIA!" Dawn shrieks as she tries to run up and take her daughter. But I immediately grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"But--"

"NO!" I hiss "He might harm her!"

"I'm not gonna harm 'er, Stripes." Scourge chuckles. Maria giggles and reaches out for both of us. I know she thinks this is just some big game we're playing, but it's not...I just wish she knew what kind of danger she was in...

"Why did you take her?" I demanded.

"No real reason," Scourge answers honestly "I just wanted to see the new baby. But...if you think 'bout it in a way...the kid should be _mine..."_

"I'd never have kids with you." Dawn growls.

"Really now? What a shame...We could've been a family...but I guess I wasn't what you were lookin' for...Still, I don't think I should give sweet little Maria back..."

"You better give her back or else I'll--"

"While your child is in my hands? Heh heh...you're not that stupid Stripes, even when you're that angry." _Dammit!_ He was right...Even though I'm filled with so much rage, I'd never, _ever,_ under _any _circumstances, attack anyone if they're holding my child...I'd end up hurting my children when I wasn't trying to...Maybe even kill them.

Scourge threw Maria in the air a bit, making her laugh a little. It seems as if he was mocking us...I was becoming really anxious. I _had_ to get my daughter back...but...how? I looked at Maria again. Just was looking directly at me, arms stretched out, trying her best to come back to me. She loved being in my arms, even if we only knew each other for only a few days...She was tired of this game now. She wante to go home...She wanted to be back with her father...

Scourge knew what was going on, and he brought Maria closer to his body, trying to keep her close to him. Unfortunately, Maria wasn't having that. She started to whine a bit, and when that didn't work, she started to cry and wail.

"See?" Dawn says proudly "Even she doesn't want to be with you. she wants to be with her _real_ parents."

"N-no..." Scourge growls. I was about to say something, but then I noticed a light blue light surround around Maria, and she lifted out of Scourge arms. Scourge lunged for her, but the same light blue light surrounded him and he soon couldn't move.

"What is this?" Scourge hisses. It wasn't long before Maria was safely in her mother's arms again. Dawn squealed happily as she cuddled Maria and calmed her down. By seeing that light around Scourge, I knew who helped us. I turned arouns to see Sonic and the other Freedom fighters running towards us. I saw Silver hiding in a corner. He was glowing, and I could tell that he was holding Scourge in place. He gave me a thumbs up and smiled. I replied by nodding and smiling back.

"Shadow!" Sonic says "You take Dawn and Maria outta here! We'll take care of Scourge."

"Got it." I held Dawn's hand and Chaos Controlled us back into Knothole Village. Once there, we hurried back to our home. I could only hope that Sonic and the others give Scourge what he deserves...

* * *

**End Notes:** Wow...two chapters in one day XD

Not much to say here. The only thing I can really say is that I don't know if the next chapter will be delayed or not...XD

Also, I still don't know what the middle names should be for Maria and Cinos. I'm still contemplating that. Anyways...

Thanks for reading! See you next time, and God bless!


	7. Chapter 6

**_Babysitting Fun_**

"Are you sure you'll be able to watch Maria while I'm gone?"

"Of course. Just go out and enjoy yourself."

"Alright...Call me if you need anything, ok?"

"I will." Dawn kissed my cheek, and then kissed Maria on her forehead. "Be good for daddy, 'k?" Maria just looked up at her mother as if she didn't know what she was talking about. I gave Cinos a quick rub to his forehead before Dawn walked away with Rouge and Sally. The girls were going out to pick Dawn's dress, as well as get some supplies for the upcoming wedding.

Me? I decided to stay home with the guys so we could plan our trip. Since we didn't want to leave the children with one parent, Dawn and I came to an agreement to take one twin and leave the other. I decided to take Maria, and Dawn took Cinos.

When I couldn't see the girls anymore, I closed the door and went back over to the couch. I sat Maria next to me and let her play with some toy rings Sonic bought for her the other day. How long has it been...two weeks..? I lost count a few days ago...Anyway, the twins were as well as they'll ever be. I have to admit, I really enjoyed being a father. It's something I never thought could happen to me. But, anything's possible I suppose...

Sonic came out of the kitchen a while later with Chip fluttering beside him.

I swear, call me wrong but Chip has to be the _weirdest_ Mobian I ever saw! He's a small purplish Chihuahua with little green pixie wings. Not to mention his unnatural big appetite. I mean, I know Sonic explained to me that Chip is Light Gaia...but that doesn't explain why he's a small canine with pixie wings...Maybe it's just me...Well, it has to be. Dawn thinks Chip is the cutest thing she ever saw in her life.

Anyway, Chip decided to come over since he felt he had to help Sonic out with his werehog problem. Plus, he wanted to see the twins (he said he never saw babies before. I could understand that since he lives in the planet's core all his...life...). When Chip saw Maria sitting next to me, he immediately fluttered over. But he stopped when he saw me.

"Um...is it ok?" he asked.

"Don't worry," I chuckled "she's harmless." Chip smiled as he flew over to Maria. He landed on the opposite side of her and me.

"Hi!" he said "I'm Chip!" Maria's eyes nearly bulged out of her head when she saw Chip. I'm not sure if it was because he scared her or because she too thinks he's adorable.

Chip, on the other hand, was a bit worried that Maria was staring at her blankly. "What did I do? Did I break her?"

"No," Sonic laughed "you can't 'break' a baby, Chip. My guess would be that she's a little shocked to see something like you."

"Did I scare her?" Chip asked. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was worried.

"Nah," Sonic replied "I'm sure she likes ya." Chip released a sigh of relief before I picked Maria up and placed her on my lap.

"Does she like chocolate?" Chip asked.

"Maybe," I replied "but she's too young to eat chocolate. She can only drink milk."

"What about chocolate milk?"

"Well...eh...I would make a joke out of that, but I won't."

"Why not?" Sonic suddenly asked, raising the ridge of his eye.

"Well...Sonic, the thing is, Dawn's breast-feeding the twins so..."

"Ohhhhh...gotcha. I know what you're talking 'bout now." I smiled a bit as I bounced Maria on my lap a bit, making her laugh. I noticed that Chip had coked his head to the side a bit, looking like he wanted to ask something.

"If you have a question, you can ask us, Chip." Sonic says before I could.

"Oh, well..." Chip says sheepishly "what's breast-feeding?" I sweat dropped.

"Uhhh...Sonic, help me out here..."

"Ok then," Sonic got up from his seat and sat next to me and Maria "Chip, do you know what breasts are? The two round things on a girl's chest?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, they're there for a reason. Y'see, they're there to store milk for a baby. And when Dawn had Cinos and Maria, her breast filled with milk, therefore providing food and nurisment for her children. Understand now?"

"Ohhh, I get it! So the only thing they can drink is Dawn's milk?"

"For a while," I add "The milk helps them grow. When they're older, they'll be able to eat solids like chocolate." Maria gurgled a bit and reached out for Sonic. I handed her to him, letting her be with her grandfather.

"...Hey, Sonic? Shadow?" Chip asked.

"Yes?"

"Where do babies come from?"

"I'll let you take this one, Shadow." Sonic said as he winked at me mockingly.

"Thanks." I mumble.

**. . . . . .**

"You think he'll like this one?"

"Hon, you look beautiful. Stop worrying!"

"But I can't help it...I'm nervous!"

"Don't be, Dawn. Shadow will love you regardless."

"I suppose." I sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror again. I was wearing a simple white halter wedding dress. It wasn't long or flowing; it didn't cover my feet. This dress was made for a summer or tropical area. The perfect dress if we were holding the wedding in Adabat or Apotos. Cinos was sitting in my mom's lap. I brought him along with us so Shadow wouldn't be over-burdened by caring for both twins.

"I'm considering taking this one." I say out loud.

"It's going to be held in Apotos, right?" Sally asked.

"Most likely yes," I reply "but I've been checking out Adabat too. It seems like a nice place to hold a wedding too."

"I was kinda expecting it to be held at either Shamar or Spongonia myself." Rouge said.

"Why those two places?" I asked.

"They just seem like the most romantic places to have it to me."

"But you gotta think about the twins, too," Sally added "We want the wedding to benifit for them too. Once the wedding it over, we can go to the beach or have some ice cream...it'll be great for them!"

"True." Cinos started to whine a little bit, and then he started to cry. I saw Sally sniffed the air a few times before she made a face.

"Someone needs a diaper change," Sal said as she stood up "I'll be right back. Keep looking for some dresses if you want." And with that, Sally picked up Cinos and headed for the nearest bathroom.

"I swear, I think everything I feed him goes right through him." I said to myself as I shook my head.

"It comes with the territory, hon," Rouge chuckled "I'm gonna go look at some more dresses. I think they have one that'll be just right for you."

"Alright. Thank you, Rouge." Rouge smiled before she disappeared into the many rows of white dresses. I continued to stand there, looking myself over in the white dress. I still could not believe that this was happening to me. I knew I was a princess and all but...It only seems like yesterday that I was still a human living on Earth...And then, Sonic shows up and whisks me away into all of this. I meet Shadow, we start dating, I end up pregnant, we have two kids, and now I'm getting married. I would have a strange biography, wouldn't I?

Still, I couldn't deny the fact that I was really happy about this. Eighteen and getting married, with children no less! Speaking of which, since I'm marrying Shadow, wouldn't that make us king and queen? Or would that still make me a princess and make Shadow a prince since Sonic and Sally are still alive? I might have to ask Sally or Sonic later. Ever since this had happened, I can't help but to wonder if I'll become queen once shadow and I are married. If it's true, then that means I have a lot more responsibilites to take care of, such as running the planet and addressing serious issues...Now, the moe I think about it, the more I get nervous...I just hope I don't start to get any second thoughts about it!

"Aren't you beautiful." My ears twitched to the sound of the voice. I already knew who it was, but I didn't cringe. I just sighed and turned around. And, low and behold, it was Greenie. He was leaning on a wall wearing his regular clothes; black leather jacket with flames, ripped jeans, red sunglasses, black fingerless gloves, and green and black boots.

"What do you want now?" I growl.

"Just wanted to say hi." He replies coolly.

"Piss off."

"Someone's grouchy. Wedding jitters?"

"That's none of your concern. Now, I'm askin' you nicely...leave."

"C'mon Cookie. Just give lil' ol' me a chance. I just came to ask ya somethin' and tell ya somethin'."

"Well make it quick."

"I just wanted to apologize for what happened. I wasn't gonna hurt your kid, and I didn't mean any harm."

"Heh, that's a laugh." Scourge made a face as he took a few steps towards me. He removed his sunglasses and looked at me directly in the eye. He had a serious look on his face.

"Listen here, Dawn; I'm here 'cause I'm dead serious here. So you're either gonna listen, or I'll kindly leave." I've seen Scourge pissed before, but surprisingly, he wasn't pissed this time. He was more frstrated and impatient if anything. I sighed; I might as well hear him out to see what he has to say. I'm going to judge him regardless, but I just want to see what kind of excuse he's going to pull out of the wazoo this time. Who knows? It might be worth it.

"What is it?" I sighed.

"As I was sayin' before, I want to apologize for takin' Maria. I didn't mean it. I just lost it for a while."

"I'm surprise you aren't locked up yet, honestly..."

"No prison can hold me, and you know this. Now, I wanted to ask ya if I can go to the wedding."

"What? Are you out of your-absolutely not! There's no tellin' what you'll do there! You'll ruin it!"

"Dawn, I'm not a bad guy. At least, I'm not anymore."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'm gonna try and take on a new leaf. Look at me, Dawn. I killed my dad 'cause he held my demension together, I took over and made it worse, I can't make any friends, no girls will go out with me...I have feelings too, y'know. Don't you think I might get a little lonely? I probably wanna settle down, have a few kiddies of my own, but I can't. No one likes me; you're own kid doesn't like me and she's not even a month old yet! Look, all I'm tryin' to say is that I don't wanna be alone anymore. I'm tryin' to start my life over, that's all."

"You do know that I don't believe a word you just said, right?"

"I knew you were gonna say that, but I need _someone_ to talk to. You're the only one I can approach nowadays."

"Well, considering on what you've done over the years, you can't blame anyone for it."

"Fair enough. So, can I come to see you an' Stripes tie the knot?"

"...I'll think 'bout it."

"'Kay. See ya later, Dawn." With that said, Scourge put his sunglasses back on and walked off, disappearing like always. I tilt my head to the side a bit, stilling thinking about what Scourge said. I know it was all a lie, but he seemed serious about the whole thing too...Still, I have to remember that Scourge is a sneaky little snake. He can put up an act and get away with it for a while. If he wants to start a new life like he says he does, he should consider acting, because he's really good at that!

Rouge reappeared a few moments later. I could easily tell by the look on her face that she heard or saw what happened with Scourge back there.

"You heard it?" I asked her.

"I heard enough," she replied "You don't believe him, do you?"

"Of course not!" I scoff "That was just a pack of lies. I have to be an idiot to believe that nonsense."

"In other words, you have to be Knucklehead." We giggle to that.

"Alright, let's get outta here," I say "Once mom comes back, let's purchase the dress and head home. I don't want to stay here any longer out of fear that Scourge might come back."

"Agreed."

* * *

**End Notes:** Man, it's been too long since I last updated my stories...I gotta get my game up XD

Anyhoo, So sorry for the delay, my friends. Due to me just being lazy, I haven't been updating my stories. I'm going to have more chapters up, of course, but it might take longer than expected. And for that, I apologize.

Now, I used spellchecker, but I still seem to somehow pass up a few errors. If there are any in this, once again, I apologize and I'll try to fix it if possible.

Review if you want, but I ask that you don't be mean. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thank you all for reading! See you next time, and God bless! :3


	8. Chapter 7

_**Author Notes: **_Jeez...once again, so sorry for the very long delay. No internet can really, really prove to me an inconvenience. I hope this chapter can make up for my long absence...

Oh yeah...One tiny note...

**WARNING! This chapter MAY contain spoilers to "A Green Thorn"! But that does not mean that the ending will be explained! You have been warned!**

* * *

**Old Friends**

It's been two months now; the twins are still growing, and everyone's still planning the wedding. After a long debate, we finally decided to hold the wedding in Apotos. Not only is the scenery beautiful, but the twins will benefit from it also because they'll be able to see a new continent and play on the beach after the ceremony.

Shadow called me to let me that they came to the decesion, and I was more than glad. In truth, I really wanted to go to Apotos; my dad, Sonic loved it up there, and I wanted to see why. I was still out with my mom, Queen Sally and Rouge. We picked out the dress; it would be a halter dress since the wedding would be held on the beach I believe. I held Cinos in my arms tightly as I sat on a bench near the railing where Scourge took me that time when he forced me on that date. I didn't want to be here; brought back bad memories. But I had to sit somewhere where I could get a full view of my surroundings.

Cinos was very quiet in my arms; I wanted to bring a stroller with me, but for some reason, Cinos would throw a fit if we tried to put him in there. So I have to carry him if I was going somewhere with him. It didn't bother me at all though; to me, this meant that I could bond with him more, and he looked very comfortable in my arms. I bounced the small hedgehog on my lap a little, and he giggled gleefully. I stopped bouncing him after a while; he seemed more interested in his surroundings.

After a few minutes, I felt a presence to my left side. I turned to see a brown bat with long hair looking at me and smiling. I smiled back at him; Cyrus has been a busy guy lately, and he's grown into a grown man now. He was a year younger than me; he was nineteen and I was eighteen. I was happy to see him; It haven't seen him since...well, forever!

"How's it been dudette?" he asked sitting next to me.

"Well," I reply "We've finally picked a place for the wedding, and now we just have to get everything ready. How have you been lately?"

"Tired," the bat sighed "I love the music biz, but it's kinda tiring since I gotta tour the world and perform. But music's my life, y'know? And I love making people happy when they see me perform." Cyrus has followed his dream of becoming a rock star. He's the lead singer of his band "Eclipse Kings". He's a big hit all around Mobius like Mina's band, and he loves his career. Ever since he start touring, I haven't seen much of him. But he still kept in touch with me by calling me every now and then, when he's not busy.

"Being a princess isn't easy either," I sigh "especially now that the press knows that I'm getting married and the fact I have kids. Now they have a prince and a princess to worry about."

"I heard Scourge kidnapped your daughter," Cyrus pointed out.

"Yeah," I reply "but we got her back, and she was completely unharmed."

"By the way, can I hold him?"

"Oh, sure." I handed Cinos to Cyrus, who gently took the baby into his arms and smiled. He started making cooing noises at Cinos, making the young baby giggle again.

"You're gonna grow up an' be like your old man, aren't ya?" he asked in a baby tone, lifting Cinos into the air a bit. The small ebony hedgehog flailed his legs happily as if he was on some kind of ride. "What's his name?"

"Cinos," I replied "Sonic's name spelt backwards."

"Ah, unique." He bounced Cinos for a while, making him laugh more before he sat the baby on his lap. "I wanna come and see you and Shadow tie the knot."

"Of course. You were invited anyway, so are Brandon and Evra. How are they doing anyway?"

"Well, Brandon's been doing great with his new engineering career. Guy's buildin' planes already. And Evra's enjoying her fashion career. Makin' all sorts of clothes for stores all around the world. They told me that they're coming back to Knothole to visit you and the kids, as well as coming to the wedding."

"That a relief. I thought they'd never make it." And then it grew silent between us. Cyrus was playing with Cinos, and I watched them with a smile on my face. It was so nice to see Cyrus again. I really missed him ever since he left to tour with his band.

"Hey, Dawn?"

"Yes?"

"I don't know if I should be telling you this but...I thought I should let you know that...my feelings for you haven't changed over the years. Even the songs I make, they're mostly about you." He sighed. "I know you love Shadow, and he loves you just as much, and it would be wrong for me to try to come in between you two. Especially now since you have a family. But...I just thought...that maybe I should tell you anyway."

"Maybe...maybe I was wrong to -"

"No, you weren't wrong. You needed Shadow, and he needed you. I...I thought I needed you too, but I didn't. And I realize that now. But...even after all of these years, it's so hard for me to let go. Because, we were so close back then, y'know? And then when Sonic showed up, everything changed. I didn't want to lose you, especially after what was going on with my family. I found solace in you...so that was my main reason for coming. It wasn't so much to get away from my problems, it was to be with you." And then it was quiet again. Cinos started to fuss, so Cyrus handed him back to me so I could calm him down. After a full minute of silence, Cyrus sighed before he stood up. "Are you waiting for someone?"

"My mom and Rouge," I replied "I think they're still getting their dresses."

"Should we go find them?"

"Lead the way." Cyrus and I smiled at each other as I stood up and followed the bat towards the stores again. We started talking along the way, recapping what had happened through the years after Sonic came. It was nice to talk to him again; it was almost like old times. But it wasn't like the old days since Cinos started to fuss again, signaling to me that he was hungry, for the third time today.

* * *

**Days later...**

I walked into the living room, wiping my hands dry on a wash cloth when I catch a glimpse of Shadow and Cinos in the middle of the room. Cinos was sitting on the couch while Shadow sat on his knees in front of him. Both of them were staring into each other's eyes intently.

"Shadow, stop trying to hypnotize my baby," I say wryly as I hit him with the wash cloth.

"I'm not trying to hypnotize him," Shadow said, not taking his eyes off of our son. "I'm tying to figure out what he's thinking." I tilt my head at them both. Cinos is looking unblinkingly at his father, as if he was trying to read his mind.

"Find anything yet?" I asked. Shadow hummed a little, thinking hard.

"Nope." he replies. Sonic came into the room seconds later with Maria wrapped in a towel in his arms. I was helping him give her a bath in the kitchen. We didn't want to put them in the bathtub just yet, so we got a small baby tub for them and bathe them in the kitchen.

"I know what he's thinkin'," Sonic says as he sits next to his grandson. "He's thinkin' 'am I really related to this guy?'" Shadow glares at Sonic as I giggle a little.

"He's most likely thinking about food," I said, taking Maria out of Sonic's arms. Maria gurgled happily in my arms as I started to rub the towel on her. She was still a little damp from the bath, and I wanted to dry her off a little more. Sonic was playing with Cinos a little, breaking Shadow's concentration to somehow read the child's thoughts. Minutes later, after Maria was dressed, there was a knock at the door. Shadow was changing Cinos's diaper, so Sonic got the door.

"Serina!" the blue blur exclaimed once the door was open "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just wanted to drop by." a female voice replied. That woman's voice...something about it seemed familiar. I looked up to see Sonic holding the door open for a green female hedgehog. She was the same height as me with peridot green fur. She was wearing a small black tank top, black skinny jeans and green and black boots. Her eyes were icy blue, and since some of her stomach was exposed due to her top, I could see a little bit of two large bolt-looking scars. This girl...she looked so familiar...She reminded me of someone I know very well, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

The green hedgehog stepped into the house; she scanned the room a little until her eyes wandered down to me. She then bowed, smiling a little.

"Hello there," she said sweetly "You're Princess Dawn, correct? Sonic's daughter?"

"Y-yes, I am." I replied. The peridot hedgehog extended her hand out to me, and I shook it with my free hand.

"I'm Serina," she said "I'm Scourge's sister." _Whaaat?_ Scourge's _sister? _Since when that green bastard have a sister? But I should've known that would be that case; she looks exactly like him! Serina saw my dumbfounded expression on my face and giggled. "We'll explain later."

"I haven't seen you in...years." Shadow said as he stood up.

"Oh I know," Serina said, walking over to Shadow and hugging him. "Ever since I decided to permanently stay with Shark, I haven't gotten around to visiting you guys." She then saw Cinos sitting on the couch, playing with the rings again. She gasped as she knelt down in front of the baby and cooed at him. "Oh he's so darling!" she squealed "Is he yours?"

"He's ours," Shadow corrected her "Both him and Maria. Dawn gave birth to them about two months ago."

"How come you didn't tell me?" Serina asked, playfully holding on to Cinos's foot while cooing at him again. When she finally stopped ogling at my son, female Scourge stood up and turned towards me.

"I'm sorry if I seem...y'know, so friendly around your family," she said "But they helped me out years ago, before you were even born. I haven't seen them ever since Sally was pregnant with you, and I never got the chance to come around."

"May I ask a quick question?" I asked.

"Of course."

"How are you Scourge's sister? He doesn't have any blood relatives that are...y'know...alive." Serina's smile suddenly widened.

"I'm not really his sister," she replied softly "I was a part of him, at one time. In fact, we were the same person, but we split into two separate beings. Come sit, I'll explain." Shadow took Maria while I picked up Cinos from the couch; he started fussing again and extending his arms towards me, letting me know that he wanted to be held. I sat on the couch with Serina, Shadow sat next to me, and Sonic sat in the armchair with his legs crossed.

"About twenty or so years ago," Serina explained "when we were still in our teen years, Scourge came to Mobius one day to cause trouble. He went to Tails' workshop where Sonic was, and started to mess with him. But his interest soon went to a machine that sat near a wall in the back room. I'm not sure what that knucklehead was thinking, but he climbed into one of the pods and told Sonic to turn it on. Of course, this 'device' wasn't completed, and it ended up malfunctioning as soon as it was turned on. By the time the device was turned off, the damage was already done. When Scourge reemerged, he had turned into a girl."

"No way!" I exclaimed, gaping at her.

"It's true," Sonic said "I was there when he came out of that thing. It was _not_a pretty sight since he was...y'know...naked when he came out."

"Scourge was pissed, as we know," Serina continued, laughing a little "But he knew there was nothing he could do. He would have to go along with the change until he was able to change back to his former male self. In order to keep his new female identity, Sonic gave him a female name to go by until Tails could return him. Many days later, we learned that the male and female parts of Scourge were splitting into two beings. Tails wanted to reverse the affect right away out of fear that they would split completely, but it was two late. Scourge and his female self had already split, and the female part of him did not want to melt back into him."

"So...you're his female half?" I asked. Serina nodded.

"It was only a day after the change when Scourge realize that the female mind was taking over more and more. So, he eventually gave in to the female half and let us split. Since then, we've been living as two separate beings. Even though that I was a part of Scourge and taken up some of his traits besides looks, I don't make contact with him at all. If I had the choice, I wouldn't claim to be Scourge's sibling, but everyone would obviously question why we look exactly alike. Fiona definitely wasn't pleased by this at all, but I didn't care about her. But I felt sorry for her after I learned my male doppelganger cut her up. Still, I looked passed that and tried to go on with my new life. It ended fairly well. I met a guy one night while partying with Rouge. He was also the reason why we split apart from each other."

"How_ is _Shark, Serina?" Shadow asked.

"A lot better," Serina sighed "I've been helping him out of his withdrawal after he came out of rehab. Poor thing..."

"Who's Shark?" I asked curiously.

"Anti-Knuckles," Sonic explained "He and Serina met shortly after Scourge changed. They've dated since then, and they've been happy with each other. But Shark...ugh...don't get me wrong. Even though he was Anti-Knuckles, he's a good guy, but he had some...issues."

"What kind of issues?" I asked him.

"We can save that for another time.," Serina giggled before she stood up. "I just came over to meet the elusive famous daughter of Sonic. But, alas, I must be off. Shark's gonna call me at any moment and ask where I am. The guy won't let me out of his sight even a second. But, I'll be staying in Mobius for a while to see the wedding, if I'm invited that is. Ciao!" And with that, the peridot hedgehog left, closing the door softly behind her. Maria had fallen asleep in the middle of the story, and she was making sure she wouldn't wake her up.

"She seems nice." I said after a few seconds of silence.

"She wasn't always like that," Shadow laugh as he stood up carefully, and then went upstairs to put Maria in her crib.

"What'd he mean by that?" I asked Sonic.

"As she said before, even though she's basically a female Scourge, she's nothing like him, but she picked up a few of his traits."

"And they would be...?"

"Multiple relationships," Sonic chuckled "But she settled down with Shark now. But, believe it or not, Serina tried to steal me away from Sal and Amy, made a move on Shadow too. He even advanced on Knuckles a few times!"

"Wow..." I said, shaking my head a little "I learn something new everyday." Sonic chuckled again before he stood up.

"How 'bout I help make dinner? You cook, I'll watch Cinos."

"Deal." I laughed. Sonic wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we both walked into the kitchen. As soon as we got in there, Cinos began to fuss again.

"I think I gave birth to a pig," I groaned to myself.

* * *

**That night...**

Hot steam rose into the air once the bathroom door was open. I stepped out of the hot bathroom, dressed in a small red night gown while wiping a towel on my fur to get rid of the last bit of water. I walked passed the babys' room, but I stopped when I heard Shadow speaking in there. Curious, I moved closer to the door and peered inside. Maria was already asleep, but Cinos was standing in his crib as he held on to the bars, making some sounds that wasn't gurgling this time. I saw Shadow standing in front of him; he knelt down in front of him seconds later though.

"C'mon," he urged "say it again!" Cinos only bounced in his crib in reply, laughing.

"Shadow, what are you doing to my baby?" I quipped as I walked into the room.

"Cinos spoke!" Shadow replied excitedly. I frowned a little.

"What?"

"He spoke, I _swear_ he did. I was walking past the room when I heard him. I don't know what he said since he said it softly, but he said something. I'm trying to get him to say it again." I walk over to my fiancee and place my hand on his back as I kneel next to him.

"But that can't be right," I said softly "they're not supposed to be talking at two months."

"Dawn, they're made from my DNA, remember?" Shadow said softly. "I was artificially created, not born, and my body grew at an alarming rate as well." The ebony hedgehog placed his ungloved hand on his chin. "Maybe...just maybe...they're brains are growing faster than their bodies, just like mine had."

"You are the Ultimate Lifeform," I said thoughtfully "Maybe we should've saw this after they were born."

"If this is true, I hope it won't affect them in a bad way..."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...well...after...you know I...n-nevermind. Forget it." Shadow sighed before he looked at his son again. Cinos had been watching us quietly, and listening. Somehow, I knew that he knew what we were talking about. How I knew this? I don't know...Maybe it's a mothering instinct. Shadow smiled as he rubbed Cinos' head a little. "You're too cute to be an Ultimate Lifeform." When Shadow removed his hand, Cinos whined as he extended his arms towards me again. I sighed as I picked him up and cradled him in my arms.

"You are so needy," I cooed at him.

"He just loves his mother, that's all." Shadow smiled. Cinos nuzzled my chest as he held on to my nightgown a little. I thought he had fallen asleep after a while, but he suddenly lifted his head up and rubbed it under my chin. Cinos was always affectionate with me, so this didn't seem odd in the slightest. After he finished nuzzling me, Cinos took his head from under my chin and looked into my eyes. His oddly colored eyes made him look unique; the crimson and icy blue eye seemed the sparkle with emotion the more he stared. I smiled at my son and bounced him in my arms a little, but I stopped when he started moving his mouth and making those sounds again.

"...Mmm...Maaaa...maaa..." My ears perked up; it sounded like he said a word, but that couldn't be...Shadow heard him too, and he stood up and moved closer to us.

"Did he just...?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know..." I replied softly. I looked down at Cinos again; he was messing with the strap to my nightgown.

"Maamaa..." Shadow's and my eyes widened at the same time. We looked at each other briefly before we looked back down at our ebony colored son.

"Cinos," I said quietly "what did you just say...?" Cinos turned towards Shadow, and then back at me, before he smiled and giggled a little.

"Mama!" he exclaimed happily.

* * *

_**End Notes: **_*bangs head on desk and cries happy tears* Finally...TwT...Ahhh it feels good to finally update this thing. Once again, so sorry for the delay! Hopefully this will make up for my absence.

As always, I went over it and corrected any errors that I could find, but if there are still some left, I deeply apologize. Review if you wish, but if you do, don't be mean, okay? I know I'm not the best writer but come on. Cut a girl a break will ya? XD

Thanks for reading everyone! See ya next time, and God bless you all! ^^


	9. Chapter 8

_**Author Notes: **_I'm going to try and update this as much as possible without too much of a delay...I hope I'll be able to accomplish that.

I do not own Sonic and Co. and I don't claim I do.

Enjoy people! =3

* * *

**My Sister**

The wind howled furiously as a green streak sped by at incredible sped, going through the partially dead forest. This Mobian ran through the forest until he came across an heavily armored building. This used to be Dr. Eggman's old lab until the werehog incident with Sonic. It's been abandoned since then; well, sort of. Someone else had inhabited this lab, and he was known by plenty of people on both Mobius and Moebius.

The Mobian lifted his red sunglasses to the top of his head and overlooked the lab before he walked in. _Figured he would chose a place like this..._he thought. Adjusting his sunglasses, the Mobian coolly walked up to the lab and walked in calmly.

The corridors were dark and cold. However, there was a light at then end of the corridor, so the Mobian walked towards it. Minutes later, he was at the light, which led to the main part of the lab. The Mobians scanned the area until he saw someone standing in front of a capsule filled with clear liquid that bubbled up continuously. The Mobian placed his hands in his pockets as he walked up to the other Mobian, who was studying the inside of the capsule intently.

"Well, you got me here Doc," the Mobian said as he approached "What did ya wanted to show me?" The Mobian didn't reply right away, but he turned towards the other Mobian after a few seconds.

"See for yourself," he said quietly as he moved aside. The first Mobian cocked his head to the side a little as he stepped closer to the capsule. He didn't see anything at first since the room was so dimly lit, but after focusing his eyes, he could see a figure inside.

The figure belonged to a female Mobian hedgehog. She was naked, with her arms crossed over her chest. Her fur was a dark grey color, and her quills faced upwards. An oxygen mask was over her muzzle, and it would fog up a little to let them know that this being was obvious alive, and breathing.

With his eyes widened, the Mobian slowly placed his hands on the capsule, as if he was trying to touch the girl. He couldn't believe that the Doctor spent two years on _this!_

"I take it that you like her," the doctor chuckled.

"How...?" was the only thing the first Mobian can croak as he turned towards the doctor with wide eyes.

"Remember when I collected Dawn's hairs from you that day?" the doctor asked.

"Yeah but...I didn't think you would spend two years making a clone! Besides...what the hell were you thinkin' when you made her?"

"Well, I wanted to see if I could copy the energy she keeps in her body, Scourge. There is so much about her that I do not know about...Her hair fibers contained so much DNA and Chaos energy when I examined it that I couldn't help but to make her!" The doctor frowned a little as he examined his creation closely. "Still," he said slowly "she is not perfect. She isn't he _exact_ replica of the princess. As you can see, I got her fur coloration wrong, her eyes aren't that narrow, and her band is too long."

"That doesn't really matter," Scourge said, turning back at the clone "If she's a replica of Dawn...maybe..."

"Don't be foolish!" the doctor laughed "I didn't create her to be your replacement of a mate!"

"Oh yeah? Then _why_ did you create her for, then?" The doctor suddenly smiled widely, but it was a mocking smile.

"That, my dear friend, is between me, and her." Scourge sneered a little as he turned back towards the clone. Even though the doctor said he didn't create her for him, then why did he bring him here to show him? What was he going to use her for that was so secretive? Still, he couldn't help but to wonder that maybe, just maybe, she could...But the doctor said that she isn't the exact replica. This clone could have a entirely different personality than the girl he knows.

"Finitevus," Scourge said, almost angrily "why did you bring me here? Why would you show her to me if I can't grow close to her? Just _what_ are you planning?"

"I brought you here because I need a favor to ask of you," the echidna replied, going over to a keyboard and began typing away "I do not know how developed her brain is. I used the same readings Gerald used for Shadow, but not a lot. She may be intellectually inferior when she awakens, and I need someone to watch over her to make sure no hard comes to her as she learns about our world."

"So you want me to be her bodyguard?"

"Sort of. Teach her things she doesn't know, answer her questions if she has any. Be her mentor, to be more direct." Scourge turned back towards the capsule. He thought he saw the clone's eyes move a little, or he probably just imagined it.

"How much longer will it be before she's...y'know, awake?" he asked.

"Probably another seventy-two hours or less," Finitevus replied "I just need to make a few minor adjustments and then she will be fully operational."

"You make it sound like she's an android." Scourge said, smiling thinly.

"She's not," the doctor nodded "But...she was artificially created, not born, remember?" Scourge shook his head as he took one last look at the clone, who slept soundly in her capsule. He wondered how this clone would act like when she was fully awake. Would her personality be the exact opposite of Dawn's, almost alike or...what if she didn't have a personality at all? What if the doctor made her a zombie to carry out orders that her masters tell her to do? But more importantly...what was her main purpose for being created? He will surely find out, in the next seventy-two hours.

* * *

**A week later...**

Dawn was thrown to the ground as another large metal fist swung through the air in an attempt to crush her. Luckily, Dawn was able to move out of the way just as the fist made contact with the ground. Getting to her feet, Dawn looked up at the large robot that had destroyed some of the mostly repaired Albion. She Saw Sonic in his werehog form, punching away furiously, only to get blown back. Silver and Blaze were teaming up to hopefully cause damage, but their efforts were in vain. Shadow would be here, but someone had to stay home and watch the children. Besides, as princess, it was her job to take part of missions, to her father's demise.

Summoning her strength, Dawn curled into a ball and Spin Dashed the robot again, this time in its chest. Apparently, that was it's weak spot, and the dent that the snowy hedgehog left behind started to produce sparks and smoke.

"I found the weak-spot!" Dawn called out to her team "It's at the chest!"

"I got this," Sonic growled as he used his claws to climb up the robot's left leg, climb down his shoulder and to the chest. He then began to scratch and punch at the chest wildly, causing more damage. Dawn cheered for her father from where she was, but stopped when the robot's eyes wandered down to her. Dawn knew too well that the oversized metal thing would want to cause her some kind of pain before it was destroyed.

Its fist suddenly disconnected from its wrist, and it turned into a missle. As it flew towards her, Dawn ducked out of the way just in time to hear it crash into the remains of a building.

"Dawn, LOOK OUT!" Sonic cried. Puzzled, Dawn looked up to see the remains of the building were crumbling down and falling towards her. Dawn couldn't stand up and run; she was lying down on her stomach and getting to her feet would cause to much time. She had no choice but to teleport away. But that too, came too late. Even before she could gather her Chaos energy, the building came crumbling down on her.

**"NO!" **Sonic shrieked as he jumped off of the now disabled robot and ran over to the rubble. As he began to desperately shovel his way through the rubble, another figure appeared from behind another building. It stared at the werehog and his companions as they all began to remove as much of the rubble as they could to save the princess. The being looked down just to see a white hedgehog lying on her stomach under the rubble. The being rushed over to inspect her, only to gasp. _This girl has the same face as me!_ she thought _That means that...she must be..._

The being jumped when he heard the werehog cry out to his daughter; she knew too well that she'll have to get this person out of the rubble and alert to her companions that she is alright. Taking the hedgehog's arms, the being pulled the unconscious princess from under the rubble as gently as she could. She didn't know how injured this hedgehog was, and she didn't want to further damage any broken bones, if any. Once Dawn was dragged out, the being picked her up from behind her knees and back and started to carry her over to her companions.

Sonic, who had stopped digging after Silver alerted him that someone was near, looked up to see his daughter was unconscious, but overall alive with a few minor injuries. But what made him a little agitated was that his daughter was in the hands of some strange girl, who looked almost exactly like Dawn!

The person who was carrying Dawn was another female Mobian hedgehog. She could pass for Dawn if it wasn't for those obvious differences between the two. Dawn was a perfect snowy white, while this hedgehog was a dark grey. Dawn had sparkling icy blue eyes while this hedgehog had glowing yellow ones, and her eyes were narrower like a reptile's. Dawn's bang almost covered her right eye, but not completely, but this hedgehog's bang completely covered her right eye. This hedgehog was wearing a small purple tank top with a jacket over it, purple jeans, purple and black boots and no gloves.

The grey hedgehog bowed before Sonic when she was close enough. She knew to always bow before someone of royal blood, and everyone knew that Sonic was the king.

"Who are you and why do you have my daughter?" Sonic demanded, taking a menacing step towards the hedgehog, only to be pulled back by Blaze.

"I found her under the rubble," she said softly. Sonic also heard that this girl's voice sounded exactly like Dawn's, but it was a little deeper, and it lacked the tomboyish accent Dawn had that she acquired from her father. "I saw that you were looking for her, so I brought her here to you." The girl then walked over to Sonic to give Dawn back to him. Sonic extended his rather large arms and signaled the other hedgehog to put his daughter into his arms, which she did promptly. Sonic was about to leave, but the girl suddenly reached out and held Dawn's arm, lifted it and placed it over her stomach. Something about this girl's behavior didn't rub Sonic the right way. It was like she somehow knew Dawn...But...

"Thank you," Sonic said softly, before he turned around and began to walk out of Albion with his team behind him. The other hedgehog lingered, watching Sonic leave with Dawn in his arms. The hedgehog felt...compelled, to follow them. The white hedgehog...she was...no doubt...her sister. She _had_to be; there was no other explanation! She made up her mind; she was going to follow them.

Ducking into the shadows, the hedgehog watched Sonic's every move and followed closely behind, but made sure that she was out of sight in the process. During her journey, the communicator on her ear started to go off. Scowling to herself, she turned it on and ducked back down behind a tree to stay out of sight.

"Midnight!" an older male voice scolded from the other end "Where are you? What are you doing? How far away from the lab are you?"

"I'm fine Doctor," the hedgehog sneered "I'll be back when I can." And with that, she disconnected the communicator, and continued her pursuit soon after. "I don't care what they say," the hedgehog said to herself "You _are_ my sister, and I'll prove it."

* * *

_**End Notes: **_It might be a little short, but I didn't want it to be long either. I just thought that I should add a short part that lets everyone see what ol' Finitevus is up to.

Sorry if it doesn't seem that good, but I tried my best. I went back and corrected all of the errors I could, but if there are still some left, I apologize, and I will fix them.

Review if you want to, but if you do, all I ask is that you don't be mean.

Thanks for reading! See you next time, and God bless!


	10. Chapter 9

_**Author Notes: **_I'm surprised I was able to get the next chapter up faster than I expected. Oh well...

This chapter explains what Midnight and Scourge did after she was awakened. Let's find out, shall we?

(Scourge and Dr. Finitevus belong to SEGA/Archie. Midnight and any other OC are the only ones I own.)

* * *

**Midnight**

_I remember that day when Finitevus had finally awakened her. He pulled one of the levers to the capsule that was at the control panel. The green liquid that had her submerged drained out of her capsule as the machine moaned mournfully. The capsule's glass covering dissolved, and the oxygen mask and tubes coming out of her body severed themselves from her. At first, she just stood there, looking lifeless. But it was literally a minute before she sighed, inhaling her first breath of fresh air._

_Of course, her muscles were a little weak since she spent most of her lifetime enclosed in a giant tube, and she collapsed when she tried to move. I was the first to react; I jerked forward and caught her before she could completely fall. Her dark fur was heavily wet, and Finitevus grabbed a towel and wrapped her body in it, for warmth as well as covering her naked body. I repositioned her so she was on her back; she looked like a full grown infant. Her eyes darted around the lab, unsure of her surroundings. And then, her eyes wandered, and stayed on me. Unlike Dawn, her eyes were a piercing yellow, and her pupil was elongated that made her look like either a reptile or a ticked off cat._

_It would be wrong of me to believe that this...clone could possibly replace the hedgehog I've chased for more than three years. But when have I ever done anything right? This girl would never be Dawn, but there was a lingering hope in my heart that made me believe that somehow...someway...this girl could fill that void in my heart that I only saved for Dawn._

_After that, I spent long days teaching her about the world. She was a good little student; she sat there and listened intently to everything I said. I didn't brainwash her; even though Dawn won't believe me, for once in my life, I wanted to try and do right. Everything that was ever taught to children of a right mind, I taught it to her. Everything one needed to know about trust, I taught it to her. I didn't leave her in the dark with anything. I even told her that she really couldn't trust Finitevus or myself. I don't know why or what she was created for, but this is Finitevus we're talking about, and I knew that it wasn't good in the slightest._

_I remember one evening; I was tutoring her about math in one of the labs. I won't lie; she's horrible with math, but it's mostly geomatry that gives her the most problems. I had to explain the difference between paraelle and perpindictular lines at least five times that day. Still, she was a good little student, and she finally understood when I broke it down enough for her. I had her draw a few figures for me to make sure she understood, but while she did it, she asked me a few interesting questions._

_"Do I have a name?" she asked. I looked up at her to see that her yellow eyes were staring into mine. What made me a little sad was that she looked so innocent and pure. I swallowed hard before I rubbed the back of my neck a little._

_"Well," I said "you don't really have one..."_

_"Do you have a name?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"What is it? You never told me."_

_"My name is...Scourge." I hesitated a little; the girl was very good with words and their meanings, and I was afraid that when she heard my name, she might leer away from me. I already told her that she couldn't trust me, but we sort of imprinted on each other during our time together. I already lost everything; I don't know if I could handle losing her too._

_"Your name means to whip or cause pain," she pointed out "How could you be named that when you're so nice to me?" My bottom lip quivered a little. Okay, it was true that I was being nice to her, but what choice did I have at the moment? She needed a mentor, and I know Finitevus wouldn't bother with it since he was so intent on taking notes for some reason. There was no one else around, so I had to take the job. I'll say I did a good job; people like Egghead or the Iron Queen would've abused her whenever she made a mistake. Me? I don't get upset when she makes a mistake. That's how she learns, that's how everyone learns. You make mistakes in order to learn. I've made so many damn mistakes that I lost count...And I just learned from them._

_"I wasn't always nice," I said, writing down a few problems from the math book "In fact I was...cruel, at some point."_

_"How cruel were you?"_

_"Well...I...killed my father and...Look, I don't want to talk about this. We have to finish this chapter before you go to bed tonight." I really hated to brush her off like that, but it would be too painful for me to recount my years as how I am...or was. I remember one night where I had to watch over her in her room while I slept; I started thinking about all of my mistakes through the years. Me murdering my dad, the Suppression Squad, my flings...everything. It got so bad to the point where I just sat there, that whole night, and cried. I never cried...No, that's a lie; I don't tryto cry. Everyone cries; it's a natural reflex of our anatomy. I cried once when Jules confronted me that night, but even now I realize what me meant. Sonic has a mom, a pop, a wife, a kid and grandchildren. Me? I have no one...Don't even know where my mom is. Probably dead for all I know._

_Our clone finished her math problems, and we decided to take a break. It was close to eight when we finished. We had more than an hour left before I had to put her to bed. Finitevus gave the girl a curfew since he wants to make sure she saves all of her energy. Usually when we have free time, I take her out for walks around the lab and into the forest, but Finitevus doesn't want her to stray too far, so I gotta go with her. She can go no more than a mile; that what the Doc told me. He acts like an overprotective father sometimes, but there's a feeling I get that makes me think that he cares nothing for her._

_I took our clone outside; it was completely dark, the stars were out, and the moon was full. She really loved to come outside; most of the time she would just sit in front of the lab and look up at the stars. I showed her all of the consolations when we first came out here. I even borrowed Finitevus' telescope and got an astronomy book to show her all of the planets. She memorized all I had taught her. Tonight we were going to a lake that I promised to take her to the other day during tutoring. It was just a few yards away from the lab, so Finitevus didn't have to bitch about me taking her too far._

_We sat there that whole hour, watching the water of the lake ripple at a gust of wind, and listen to the crickets chirp and the occasional ribbet from a frog. We sat there in silence for a few moments before she spoke up again._

_"Do I have a name?" she asked, turning towards me again._

_"Not really," I replied, taking my sunglasses from my eyes and fiddled with them in my hands. "The Doc never really took the time out to name ya so..."_

_"I want a name. Can you help me decide on one?"_

_"I could try. I'm not really good with picking out names." I smiled a little when I remembered the odd look Dawn gave me when I nicknamed her Cookie. I think I should be arrested whenever I give someone a name. Still, I wanted to try, for her. She looks a lot like Dawn, but there are some differences. Her bang completely covered one of her eyes and it was thicker. Her eyes were more narrowed and it made her look mean-looking. Her fur was a lot darker than Dawn's and her muzzle was close to Shadow's tone. There were something about those yellow eyes of hers that made it look like she was looking into your soul...It kind of freaked me out to be honest. Plus, her narrowed pupils made her look like an unnatural hedgehog. I really wanted to call her "Shade" for some add reason, but we already had one, so I bit my tongue. But then I started to think about something; Dawn looks like an angel because of her pure white fur and those sparkling icy blue eyes...Our clone is as dark as the night and looks...well, evil. So what if..._

_"Well...do you like the name Midnight?" I asked her. She tilted her head at me._

_"Midnight?"_

_"You don't have to like it. It was something that popped into my head." She kicked her feet in the water a little, before she smiled at me. This was the very first time she actually smiled. She looked a lot cuter when she smiled though._

_"I like it." she said._

_"Alright. For now on, your name's Midnight." She was beaming now; she was happy that she finally had a name. It really irked me too because Finitevus sometimes calls her "M-735", which makes it sound like a serial number and she's kind of product. She's not. She's a living creature like him and myself, and she should be treated like one._

_Heh...It's funny, how that's coming from me. I usually didn't really care about things like that back then. In all out honesty, I thought it was irrelevant. It's ironic, is it not?_

_"I don't like Finitevus," she suddenly said. A frown had appeared on her face, and she looked distant._

_"Hey, I won't lie," I said "I don't like 'im either. But someone needed to come in an' take care of ya. He called me 'cause he's...well, busy."_

_"I don't want to stay here. I never saw daylight or the sun and I can't stray away from the lab. I don't know what it's like to interact with other Mobians. He keeps me coddled in this dreary place and I know I'm missing out on a lot. I don't know if I have a family out there." I gulped at the word "family". I really wanted to tell her that she was artificially created, but that would crush her spirits severely. I decided that it was not in my place to tell her now, but she'll have to learn who she really is at some point._

_"I'll take you away from here," I whispered. Midnight perked up as she scooted towards me a little._

_"What?"_

_"I don't think it's right for you to be coddled here either. You should be out there, away from here, seeing to world, living it to its fullest. When the time is right, I'll take you somewhere where you'll be happy."_

_"Promise?"_

_"I promise. If I don't keep it, then may God strike me down." For the first time in a long time, I was hugged. Midnight had reached over and hugged me tight. And it was a real hug, not that flirtatious crap Fiona or my other girlfriends did. And for once in my life, I actually felt loved, wanted, and appreciated. And I started to know then, that she trusted me._

_We left close to nine so we could get back to the lab on time. I swear, I did not want to hear Finitevus' mouth if we came home late. He's like a really bad nagging father. I put Midnight to bed and watched her for a while. I've taken up a habit of watching her asleep to make sure she's alright. Finitevus warned me that there might be some things wrong with her brain, and she might have nightmares or something like that. Finitevus came into the room some time later. He motioned for me to follow him, so I did, even though I was hesitant to leave Midnight._

_"How's the progress?" he asked me when we were in the hallway._

_"Fine," I reply "she's a fast learner."_

_"Did you have any complications?"_

_"No. She's well mannered. But seriously Doc, why did you create her for?"_

_"That's none of your concern. Why I created M-735 is none of your concern. Just continue to do your job." I really wanted to tell Finitevus off, but I bit my tongue._

_"Her name's Midnight," I sneered "She asked me for a name earlier so I gave her one. Try not to be too heartless and call her by that, will ya?"_

_"Hmph. Like you actually care for her." My gut twisted into a knot when I started to remember my past, but I ignored it._

_"Well you don't give two-shits 'bout her! And you're wrong. I do care for her. She's gonna need to know that there are people out there who can love her!"_

_"And you do? You don't even know what that word means." I was getting really pissed off, but I knew that if I tried to argue with him, I would be wasting my breath. I decided to ignore him and I went back into Midnight's room. I watched her for a while before I eventually drifted off, and had nightmares about my horrific past in the process._

_During that week, I started to learn more about Midnight. She's almost the polar opposite of Dawn in some ways. She favors the color purple a lot, so I went out and bought her some all purple attire for her to wear to make her happy. I found out she's stubborn too; she's turning rebellious against the Doc, like Dawn did back on Earth. She even sneaks out sometimes and wanders miles away from the lab. Finitevus has me go get her back whenever she does. I scold her as little as I can, but I give her lectures about how she's not supposed to wander off since she doesn't know where she is or where she can go, and she listens. The thing is she only listens to me and not the Doc, which makes me a little happy._

_Midnight's a little odd though. She likes to stare at me with wide doe-eyes most of the time. It scares me shitless whenever she does that, and whenever I ask her why she's staring, she giggles. It's a high-pitched giggle which makes her sounds a lot like Dawn when she does that. I'm starting to guess that her little staring fits are games she likes to play with me. I tested my theory by staring at her back one day when I was cleaning a dirty spot on my sunglasses. We stared at each other in the eye unblinkingly before she suddenly giggled and turned away from me. I could've sworn I saw her blush, but I figured I imagined it._

_She's a little clingy too. Doesn't like to stray away from me for too long, and she following me wherever I go. When she wants to annoy me, she follows my exact steps and hides behind me whenever I turn around. They're harmless games, I know, but they're annoying me a little. Finitevus gave us an entire day to go out, so we walked around Station Square for a little in broad daylight. It was around this time that I spotted Cyrus and Dawn sitting together on the park bench near the lake where I took Dawn that time on our second "date". Cyrus was holding Dawn's son, but I don't remember his name. All I know that his name is Sonic's name with the letters rearranged or something. I wanted to go over there, but I knew Dawn wouldn't allow me near her kids after what happened, so I kept my distance. I noticed that Midnight was staring intently at Dawn. I guess she realized that they looked alike, and she might start to think they're related. I break her from her trance by nudging her a little._

_"Ever saw a movie before?" I asked her. I looked at me with those wide doe-eyes again._

_"No," she replied "can we go see one?"_

_"Well, there aren't any good ones out in the theaters so...we could go to my place and watch some there." _

_"Where do you live?"_

_"In an apartment in the city. C'mon, I'll show you." I took Midnight's hand as I led her deeper into the city where my apartment was. It was a decent place; not as nice as the place where Shark lives, but it's home. Midnight was very pleased though; I guess after living in an abandoned lab for so long, any place looked ten times better. She sat on the couch and waited patiently for me while I picked out a movie. I did not want to watch a slasher flick or a romance, so I picked a suspense movie I rented from BlockBuster the other day._

_Before the movie started, I taught Midnight how to make popcorn. She had fun, but I had to make some more because she added way too much salt to the first batch. The girl can be eccentric sometimes, I swear. _

_So, after the mishap with the popcorn, we finally watched the movie. I wasn't really paying attention to it; my mind was miles away. I don't know when this happened, but I realized that Midnight was cuddled up to me with my arm wrapped around her. I swear we weren't like that earlier, and how we got to this position, I have yet to figure out. The girl actually fell asleep too, and I was afraid to move her. I eventually found away to get away from her and let her lay down on the couch. I called the Doc to let him know that Midnight might have to spend a night with me; I lied and told him that she fell into a deep sleep and she won't wake up, and I was afraid to carry her back to the lab. Finitevus wasn't happy, but he let me keep her. There was nothing for me to do now, so I started to clean the place up out of boredom._

_It was hard for me to do even that because I started thinking again. I was starting to think that Midnight was starting to develop feelings for me, and I was starting to feel the same way. I could've easily carried Midnight back to the lab, but I didn't want to. I wanted her to stay here, with me, for a little longer. I was the only person she really came in contact with, and she's imprinted on me in some way. The girl grew on me too, but I just wanted to be her mentor, nothing more. Still, there was a part of me that believed that she could fill the void. But I didn't want to because I would be wrong to try and replace Dawn with some clone. But Midnight isn't just some clone made by an evil genius...She's...a lot more. But I can't get too close to her...As much as it's going to pain us both, we'll have to separate, some kind of way. If we dont..._

_I could hurt her..._

_

* * *

__**End Notes:**_What really happened after Midnight woke up? Well, this chapter explains it. Also, I thought it would be better to tell it from Scourge's point of view. We get to see what goes on in that brain of his (or lack of XD)

I know it looks weird because it's written in all italics, but I thought it could add to the feel of the chapter a little more. If it hurts your eyes, sorry, and I'll change it back if I need to.

Review if you want to, but all I ask is that you don't be mean in them. I corrected all of the errors I could, but if there's still some left, I'll fix them.

Yes, the next chapter to all of my stories will be delayed. Sorry people, but patience is a must! XD

Thanks for reading! See you next time, and God bless!


	11. Chapter 10

_**Author Notes: **_This chapter took a while...I don't really know how real weddings works; I just use what I've seen on television and...y'know, Internet XD

ANYWAY, Shadow and Dawn finally tie the knot.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Here Comes the Bride**

Apotos was as beautiful as ever when we finally arrived. Tails and Brendon had flew us all there; those who were in Knothole Village anyway. The others who wanted to come like my friends and others had to get here on their own. We were going to stay here for a few days for the wedding, and Shadow and I would stay and extra week or so for our honeymoon. Sonic had left way before us ahead of time to get everything ready before we arrived; he always wanted everything perfect for me. A fine example would be my birthday parties.

Sonic also got us to stay at the finest hotel on this continent; our room was right in front of a beach, and there was only one word to describe it: beautiful. The kids were having a grand time too; it's been a few months now and they've growed rapidly. They're first birthday haven't came up yet and they're already walking, and talking a little. Cinos and Maria kept jumping on the beds while squealing and laughing. Shadow helped me bring the suitcases into our room, as well as bringing in some air bed Sonic got for us so the kids could sleep on something. He didn't want them to sleep on the couch bed for some odd reason.

Once we were settled in, I went out onto the patio and looked out at the sea. I could smell the salt from the sea, and the air was moist and warm. The perfect setting to a new start in my life. Shadow came out with me a little while later; he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my cheek.

"Excited?" he asked.

"Very," I replied "In just a few days, I'll be your wife and possibly a queen. You'll be a husband, a father and a king...It'll be a new start for both of us." Shadow breathed in deeply, held his breath and then exhaled.

"Y'know," he said softly "I always thought that something like this wouldn't bless a person like me."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I am the Ultimate Lifeform. I was created to be a weapon. I didn't believe that I could ever sire and raise children, nor did I believe that I would be fortunate enough to fall in love with a woman and then marry her to be my wife." He tightened his grip around me. "I thought I was cursed. After Maria died, I thought I was destined to be alone, to live out my almost immortal life with no one. And then I met you, and all that changed." He kissed me again, and it was around this time that Cinos and Maria came running out of the room towards us.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy!" Cinos exclaimed "Can we go meet gwanpa? He said he would show us awound the beach and get us ice cweam!" As I said before, Cinos and Maria started talking not too long ago, but they're still trying to form their words. So most of the time they'll pronounce the sound a r makes with the sound of a w.

"We'll leave soon," I giggled, rubbing my son's head a little "Just give mommy and daddy some time to get ready." Cinos and Maria hopped around excitedly as they watched us walk around the room to fix everything up. When we finally left, we had to keep Cinos and Maria close to us because they wanted to run all over the place. Over these course of months, our children's personality started to come out more.

Cinos is like both Sonic and myself. Very outgoing, loves to try or see new things, and full of energy. He's very vocal, and will talk your ear off if you give him the chance. He's very close to Shadow and I, but will usually be more affectionate with me, as he proved when he was still practically a newborn. He can't stay still for too long, and he would run around our house a lot when he wants to play. And his appetite hasn't changed either; he can eat two full plate of food if he could.

Maria, however, is more like Shadow. Very quiet, shy and a little meek, afraid of new things and is reluctant to try something new. But that changes when she sees her brother jump head-first into new things. Doesn't talk much, but when she does she talks in almost a whisper. But she can become loud when she's upset. When she cries, I swear I could hear glasses break in the background. She's very clingy to both Shadow and her brother. Usually follows Cinos everywhere he goes, but when he's taking his nap, she follows Shadow. I thought it was adorable.

We meet up with Sonic on Windmill Isle; Sally and Chip was with him too. Cinos and Maria immediately ran up to their grandparents and hugged them; Cinos went to Sonic, Maria went to Sally.

"Chippy!" Maria exclaimed when she saw Chip fluttering next to Sonic. She outstretched her arms towards him, and he came down next to her and hugged her. I remember Shadow telling me that Chip had played with Maria with we left that day to pick out my dress. Since then, they've been close.

"Gwanpa," Cinos said "are we going to get some ice cweam?"

"Yup," Sonic said, ruffling Cinos' ebony fur "right after we walk around the town for a bit." Sonic then gave us a tour of Windmill Isle; along the way, a lot of people and Mobians waved and greeted us. Most of them recognized Shadow and I, and they couldn't stop complimenting on our children. Maria was very shy and kept hiding behind Shadow and Sonic whenever a stranger approached us. Cinos didn't really care, or notice. He wanted to dart out towards the beach, but I held on to him firmly.

We finally settled down on the beach as planned; Cinos was finally content and spent most of his time sitting next to me. It was Maria who surprised most of us; being the most laid back of the two, I was surprised to see that she was running around on the beach, chasing Chip, Shadow and Sonic. They had ice cream earlier too; the chocolate chip sundae supreme. I think that stuff made Cinos drowsy while it made Maria hyper. Cinos eventually fell asleep on my lap, and I rubbed his back while he slept.

"I remember our wedding," Sally said suddenly.

"Oh?" I asked, turning towards her "What was it like?"

"Wonderful," she gushed "We had it in the castle. Almost everyone on Mobius turned up for it." She leaned back a little and sighed as she closed her eyes. "When Sonic recited his vows, I thought I was about to faint. They came out so smooth and clear. They came right from the heart; he didn't write them down either."

"I don't have to write down my vows either," I said silently "I already know what I want to say to Shadow." Speaking of him, I looked up to see him with Maria near the water's edge. He was holding her while the tide came in and brushed across their feet. Maria squealed happily as she ran over to the dry sand while Shadow stayed behind and watched her with a smile on his face. "And I know he already knows what he wants to say to me when we reach the alter."

"Just three more days," Sally sighed.

"Yeah," I nodded "In three more days, I'll be a bride."

"And a queen." I turned towards my mom again with a thoughtful look in my eyes.

"That reminds me," I said "since I'm marrying Shadow, that means that I'll become queen, right?"

"Not necessarily," Sally said "You'll still be a princess and Shadow would turn into a prince. The only way you can become queen and king is when we have the traditional crowning of the king and queen. That's when you'll take the throne."

"So when is this crowning going to be?"

"We're not sure yet. We want to wait until after you two settle down after the wedding, and then worry about the crowning. It might be a while, but it will happen." Cinos started to fuss since he was beginning to wake up from his nap. I picked him up and cradled him in my arms while shushing him a little, and he calmed down quickly.

"How many people are going to turn up for the wedding?" I asked curiously.

"Well," Sally said thoughtfully "Since everyone in the village and the surrounding areas want to come, my guess will be...over ten thousand." My eyes widened. "Hey, I guessed. I don't know what's the _exact_ number."

"We're going to need a lot more cake...that reminds me, Sonic said that the wedding will be televised. Is that true?" Sal nodded.

"For those who can't come here, they're going to televise it so all of Mobius can see it."

"That should be fun," I mumble. The others came by minutes later just before the sun began to set. The twins were exhausted, so we went back to our hotels. The kids went to bed early, after seven to be more exact. Shadow and I spent the rest of the night together. We went out to eat, walked around town for a bit, and just enjoyed ourselves. We returned back to the hotel close to eleven, and the twins were still asleep when we got back. We settled in, and we went to sleep.

I didn't see much of Sonic the next day; Sally called me and told me that he went out for last minute preparations. Sometimes I think he stresses himself out a lot. But when I asked her where he went, she said she didn't know since he left early while she was still asleep, so there was no way of locating him. Cinos and Maria were quiet that morning; they spent more than four hours watching _Ninja Turtle_ DVDs. They were quiet as they watched, but cheered and laughed whenever the turtles started beating the crap out of bad guys. I had to do a double take on them though; maybe I'm just imagining, but I _swear_ that both of them look bigger than yesterday. Maybe that's just me but still...

Since we didn't want to spend the whole day indoors, Shadow and I took the kids out again. They didn't want to go to the beach this time, so we just walked around for a little. People kept walking up to us and made small conversation again, but we didn't mind. An hour into the walk, someone from behind us called out and we had to stop to see who it was. It turns out that it was a female hedgehog that looked exactly like me, but with a few differences. Her fur was a dark grey, her eyes were narrow and yellow, and she wore all purple.

"I...finally...caught up...to you..." she panted.

"Um...who are you...?" I asked.

"I'm Midnight. Ou-I mean your father probably didn't tell you this, but I was the one who helped you out of that rubble back in Albion those months ago." Sonic did tell me that a girl who looked just like me had saved me that day but didn't speak much about it. This girl must be who he meant. "The reason I called you out is because I never saw you after that day and I really wanted to meet you."

"Well...I don't know what to say..." I said softly.

"I don't either...b-but I'm staying here for a while since I'm visiting someone, a-and if you want we can stay in contact with one another. Th-that is, if you want to..." I wasn't really sure, but I was a little fascinated by my twin, so we exchanged phone numbers so we could stay in contact. Unfortunately, Midnight had to leave soon after and she left. Shadow and I exchanged looks once we left, but decided not to speak of it.

Later, we met up with Brendon, Cyrus and Evra. Brendon and Evra are still dating, and both had obviously grown. Brendon is a lot more confident and is less shy than he was when we were teens. He's more outgoing and has become a real chatterbox. He wears glasses now, and he's become a handsome man-er-ferret. Evra had grown too; less giddy and girly now, and is more mature. She's very pretty, and he hair has gotten a lot longer. Both are very happy. Evra went nuts when she saw my kids though; kept gushing over them whenever she got the chance. "They're adorable! How come you kept them hidden for so long?" "He's so big! She takes from her father!" "When are their birthdays? I want to buy them gifts!"

The seven of us spent that whole day catching up with one another. Cinos and Maria were well behaved, but Cinos kept fussing when he got hungry. Cyrus tells us that they'll be in the front row at the wedding, so we should look out for them when the time comes. They invited us out to eat later that evening, and we had to go to a pizza place since that's what the twins kept suggesting. When we left, I found out that my three friends we in the same hotel, but we never saw each other. We exchanged room numbers and retreated to our rooms for the night.

The last two days were just us getting ready for the big day. The wedding was being held on the beach, so Sonic and most of the Freedom Fighters went out early to set up the chairs and other stuff. When the big stuff was set up that day, we finished the smaller stuff like chairs and small decorations the next day, which was the day of the wedding. We had to get up extra early, and the kids didn't like it at all. But they shook it off once they had a hot bath. I helped Shadow dress the twins before I had to leave to get into my dress. We had trouble with both of them; Cinos because he kept jumping around excitedly and we had to keep fixing his tie. We had problems with Maria because she didn't want to put on the dress. She looked real pouty when we finally got her in the thing, but that changed when I told her she and her brother had an important job. Cinos was the ring bearer, and Maria was the flower girl. I kissed Shadow goodbye before I left and went over to Sally's room, where all of the girls were gathered.

"Today's the big day!" Sally exclaimed as she helped me with my dress.

"I know," I said "I'm getting a little nervous."

"Don't," Rouge said, ironing my veil "Trust me honey, what's happening to you right now is the best thing in the world. Shadow loves you dearly; he'll no doubt be the best husband you can have."

"But what if he has second thoughts?"

"He won't!" Evra said "That's the wedding jitters talking. Shadow wouldn't have agreed with this if he had second thoughts!"

"You're right...I'm just nervous, that's all." Julie-Su finished my bouquet of flowers by adding an icy blue ribbon to tie the stems together.

"You look great," she whispered. I smiled.

"Thanks. So do you, and you're a great bride's maid." The pink echidna smiled at me as she handed my the flowers. All the while, I couldn't help but to think about Shadow. Was he nervous too?

* * *

**Back with the boys...**

"Shadow, calm down will ya?"

"I can't help it! What if she has second thoughts? What if I can't be the husband she needs me to be? What if..."

"Shadow, whoa, chill man. You're just nervous, it's natural." Cyrus placed a comforting hand on the ebony hedgehog's shoulder before he sighed and slumped down on the bed, which kept bouncing since Cinos and Maria were jumping around on it in the background.

"Wedding jitters has struck again," Sonic said wryly as he readjusted his tie for the sixth time.

"Oh like you were so calm when you married Sal!" Shadow snapped. Sonic chuckled before he faced his ebony counterpart.

"I wasn't," he said simply "and I'm sure everyone was nervous when they first married the love of their life. As Cyrus said before, it's natural for one to feel this way. Just calm down a little so you can think clearly." Shadow sighed as he stood up and went over to the window. He could see everyone gathering at the beach where the ceremony would be held.

"I just want to make sure that I give her everything she needs," he said softly "I mean, I know she loves me, and I love her. And let's not forget the kids! Can I be the father that they need me to be? Plus, I'm going to become a king soon! I know you told me that I have great leadership qualities, but can I honestly lead an entire planet?"

"You're just becoming a prince once you marry Dawn," Rotor pointed out "It'll only be at the traditonal crowning is when you'll officially become king."

"Besides, you have plenty of time to settle down with Dawn after the wedding," Knuckles said "So quit worrying."

"Some best man you are," Tails mumbled. Maria jumped down from the bed and ran over to her father, tugging at his tuxedo a little. Shadow looked down at her and smiled before he knelt down so the could make eye-contact.

"Daddy," she said "what does a fwower girl do?" Shadow took his young daughter into his arms and hoisted her above the rail so she could see the beach clearly.

"Well, you have a very important job," he said "See, just before mommy comes out, you will have to scatter flower pedals on the rug to signal everyone that she's coming."

"What does big bwother do?"

"Well, Cinos' job is very important. He carries the rings down the aisle to us so we can marry. Both of you are a very important in the ceremony." Just then, the sound of a clock tower started to go off. Shadow placed Maria down on the ground before Sonic came over and placed his hand on the ebony hedgehog's shoulder.

"It's time," he said quietly. Shadow nodded, the nervous feeling in his gut returning. Before leaving, the ebony hedgehog checked himself once more in the mirror, readjusted his bow tie and left, while holding the hands of his children.

* * *

The beach was surprisingly crowded that day. Mobians and humans alike chattered amongst themselves before Uncle Chuck, who was serving as the minister, went up to the alter and signaled for everyone to go silent. Shadow, along with most of the Freedom Fighters were standing at the alter as well. Shadow's hand began to twitch furiously; he was getting anxious, and it was hard for him to control his emotions. Rouge saw that he was nervous, so she stepped in and reassured him by placing her hand on one of his shoulders and smiling. He smiled back, since it put him at ease a little, but not all the way.

Chip suddenly fluttered up the aisle and towards the alter. When there, he told Chuck that everything was set and the ceremony began. The guests stood up as an organ and Cello began to play, and then a small ebony hedgehog in a red dress appeared at the other end of the aisle with a basket of rose pedals in her hands. She was reluctant at first, but Locke, Knuckle's father and an usher who was in the back, urged her to go. She was afraid at first, but after seeing her father, she grew confident. Performing her duty by scattering the pedals as she walked down, she hurried over to her father. When there, she immediately hugged at his legs, which made some of the guest murmur a few "aww"s.

And then came the moment everyone was waiting for. Sonic appeared at the other end of the aisle, arm in arm with a woman wearing a flowing white halter dress, but her face concealed by the veil. Shadow immediately knew who she was, and he suddenly felt his heart leap to his throat. Sonic escorted the bride down the aisle slowly; all eyes were on the bride and her father, and it was eerily silent. Shadow clasped his hands together as the duo drew nearer and nearer. When they finally reached the alter, the bride released her father's arm as she stood before the groom and all who had came. Chuck instructed Shadow to remove the veil soon after. Holding his breath, Shadow held on to the delicate silk of the veil as he lifted it to reveal the face of the bride, which caused some of the guest to gasp at how beautiful she looked. Her soft delicate lips were covered with a pale pink lipstick, and pale blue eye shadow decorated her face. Shadow always thought that she was beautiful, but now she looked ravishing.

The duo held each others' hands as Chuck began to recite a few prayers to bless the bride and groom on their journey as they start their new lives together. After that was done, he instructed that both should recite their vows; Shadow was first. The ebony hedgehog did not need to write down his vows; the words had formed in his heart, and they came out so smooth that it almost seemed like he wasn't nervous moments ago. He said:

"I Shadow, take you, Dawn, to be my lawfully wedded wife. I promise to always cherish you, comfort you, and love you in ways that no one else could. I promise to never leave your side when you are ill, I promise to never let my eye wander from you, and I promise to be there for you and our children, always. I love you with all my heart and soul, and that will never change for as long as I live."

Dawn beamed proudly at the ebony hedgehog, and he glazed eyes showed signs that tears were beginning to form. However, she held them back since it was her time to recite her vows. She said:

"I Dawn, take you, Shadow, to be my lawfully wedded husband. I promise to always love and cherish you in ways no one else could ever do, and I promise to end the pain that you have endured all your life. I promise to never let my eye wander, I promise to never leave you in your time of need, and I promise to help you as we go on this journey together as a family. I love you Shadow, and that will only change if I ever leave this earth." Shadow wanted to embrace his mate oh so badly, but he knew he had to wait, for the ceremony was not complete.

Now it was time for the rings; in the back, Bernadette helped Cinos hold the pillow correctly so the rings wouldn't fall off. And then, as carefully as he could, the young ebony hedgehog walked down the aisle, his eyes darting at everything as he walked. When he reached the alter, his father took the rings from the pillow and praised his son for performing his duties perfectly. Both hedgehogs took a ring and proceeded with placing each ring on the others' finger. And then, came the part that everyone was anxiously awaiting.

"Shadow, do you take Dawn to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Chuck asked.

"I do." the ebony hedgehog said proudly, but he spoke softly.

"And Dawn, do you take Shadow to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"Then, you may kiss the bride." Shadow immediately embraced his new wife in his arms before he leaned towards her and kissed her deeply, which caused the whole beach to become alive with the cheers of the guests. Now it was official: Princess Dawn and Prince Shadow are now husband and wife.

* * *

_**End Notes:**_ Wow, that took forever...

Yup, it's what you've been waiting for, Dawn and Shadow have married. I think I may have gotten a few details wrong, but sorry. I never been to a real wedding XP

I've corrected all of the errors i could possibly find, but if I missed any, my deepest apologies.

Review if you want to, but I ask that you don't be mean. I know everyone's a critique but...Well I guess I'm just too sensitive. *shrugs*

Anyhoo, thanks for reading! See you next time, and God bless!


	12. Chapter 11

_**Author Notes: **_I'm gonna add that "diary/journal entries" element now. I think it's a little interesting myself, but I don't wanna copy anyone, so I'm going to add that element every now and then.

Anyway, after a very long break of updates, enjoy!

* * *

**A Gift That Was Already Unwrapped**

It seemed like the wedding was only yesterday...But in fact is it was only two days ago. Even so, I'm still overjoyed. To me, I went from a regular human teenager, to teenage hedgehog princess, to fiancee' and then to a wife and possibly a queen in only one short setting. And to be married to an Ultimate Lifeform no less! But I love Shadow...if I didn't this wouldn't have happened at all. And then there's the twins to worry about. They would grow up without a father (as if they're not growing in an alarming rate already!).

Still, I'm really enjoyed myself...It's too bad we had to leave Apotos earlier than I had hoped for. I really liked that place...Now I see why Sonic loves it there so much! Maybe I could possibly move there one day...Of course, that would be impossible once I become queen; I'll be bound to the castle in Knothole after the coronation. That's...really cruddy if you ask me. Who knows? I might be wrong about it. But after Sonic became king, he couldn't really leave the castle. Or maybe he just decided to stay there...Nah; definitely going with the first option on that one. Sonic doesn't like to stay in one place for too long...or does he? Everything sort of changed after I was born...Plus there's the fact he's keeping a few things away from me that I should know. But I don't hold that against him, of course.

Anyway, we were back home in Knothole. I'm still living with Shadow until it's time for us to move into the castle once Shadow and I are crowned king and queen. Let me tell you, that's not really something I'm looking forward to. I know I'm a princess and all, but I think I'll have to lead an entire planet once I'm queen! I can't even lead the Freedom Fighters most of the time! How the hell am I supposed to lead an entire planet? Ugh...I bet Scourge didn't have _this_ problem! All he had to do was overthrow Ally and become king of his planet...cocky little prick.

Speaking of him, my mind goes back to when I encountered him for the first time after I found out who I really was. That second time I think...when he took me on a "date" in Station Square. When I started to gain feelings for him...and then when he brought up Soul Tone...He said Soul Tone activates when two hedgehogs who are "meant" to be together are near each other. If this is true, then does this mean that Scourge's love for me...was true...? Now that I think about it...even when we were on Moebius that time, and when we had that argument, I really felt bad afterwards...And then there's the fact he's so smitten with me than any other female...So, with all of these signs, then does that mean that Soul Tone exists? And that Scourge and I were meant to be together?

...

EWWWWWWW!

That's definitely something I do _not_want to think about! That meant we would get married and (possibly) have kids! I would be ruining Mobius! Ugh...I'm **so** glad I met Shadow...I believe after what happened that day we were supposed to train, a new contract was form with Shadow and I. This Soul Tone thing is so complicated and confusing...Maybe it'd be best to ask an expert on this (and for once, I don't think it's Sonic).

But, all in all, it was great to be back home again. My friends Brendon, Cyrus and Evra are staying in Knothole for a while ever since we separated and got on with our lives. I think Brendon and Evra are the next to be married, but I honestly don't know. They're madly in love with each other, so it's possible. Cyrus is just the same as ever. I kinda thought he was going to take a job as an FBI agent or something since he has a knack for mysteries. But his heart is set on being on a stage, so I can understand that. I want a career myself...I just don't want to be a princess/queen and earn my living that way. what about when I retire? I'll need something to do! Hmm...I think I might write that biography and publish it, and possibly become a writer in my autumn days. That sounds like a plan there.

Speaking of Cyrus, I still feel guilty about how he found out that I was already with someone, even though he had deep feelings for me. And to think he's been feeling that way for years! I should've known...Now I feel like I've been taking him for granted or something. He says he let it go since I'm married and everything, but even I can tell that he wished he was up at the alter with me and not Shadow. I'm going to have to spend more time with him to make up for all of that.

On a side note, I've been feeling funny lately. Not "ha-ha" funny, but kinda "weird" funny. I can't explain it; all I know is that some of the time, I don't feel like myself. I don't feel sick or anything, but I just feel funny. And it doesn't feel at all familiar either-Okay, I take that back; it _does_ feel familiar, but that feeling is very faint. And with each passing day, it gets a little worse, and it doesn't seem to be fading at all. I'm starting to get worried...maybe there's something seriously wrong with me.

But I'm not going to inform anyone of my discomfort...yet. I want to make sure that it's not as serious as I'm making it seem to be. Well, on another note, Christmas is coming up soon and everyone wants to get ready for the holidays. That's another reason why my friends are staying in Knothole for a while. It started to snow a few days ago, and Shadow and I are preparing our kids and ourselves to go out for some winter fun. This would be the twins' first snow day; they're really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, due to Cinos' eagerness, it's very hard to get him in his coat, boots, and gloves. He had a hat, but he ended up flushing it down the toilet (LONG story about how that happened, so don't ask). It's not like we really needed to worry about it...His fur should keep him warm enough. Still, it was quite entertaining to see Shadow chase a practically ten month old tot run around with one boot, two gloves and no coat. I eventually took over and decided to dress Cinos and have Shadow dress Maria since Cinos is more obedient with me. He can be such a mama's boy sometimes...But I love the tiny ebony hedgie (rhyming; yay!).

But after we eventually get both tots dressed, we went out to our backyard and let the kids play. They loved the snow; ran around in it, made snow angels and snowmen, tried to form snowballs...It sorta reminded me of my first snow day, strangely enough, as a little hedgehog! Over the years upon returning to Mobius and reverting back to my original shape, my memories are coming back to me bit by bit. For some strange reason, I can even remember my birth. No kind of being, whether it's an anthro or a human, can possibly remember their own birth. But I can. It's so strange...And the memory is so vivid!

The very first thing I remember was being blinded by a white light, and then feeling the shock of the coldness of the outside world. It was so scary...suddenly being from a nice, warm, dark and comfortable place to a cold, brightly lit harsh outside. I know I cried in discomfort because I wanted to ge back into my mom's womb, but that's when I suddenly felt something warm, soft and fuzzy rub against my body furiously, adding to my discomfort, causing me to cry more. I noticed that I was lying on something soft too, and I had varies items attached to my body. When I finally stopped crying after what was only a few seconds, someone picked me up and carried me somewhere.

"It's a girl," I heard a soft female voice say. And then I went from that person's hands to another, where that person's scent was more familiar. It was then, when I gained the courage to finally open my eyes to get a better look of my surroundings. That irritating light was the first thing that hit me, but then my eyes adjusted and could see that I was in a white room; a hospital room.

"Sonic, she looks just like your great grandmother," another female voice said, but this one sounded tired and exhausted.

"Can I hold her?" said a more baritone male voice, but it was familiar. It was at that moment, I could look up and catch a quick glance at my mom, an exhausted Sally Acorn, before I was once again, passed to another person. The scent was very unfamiliar to me, but I remembered his voice from somewhere. It was then when I saw a shade of cobalt, and then a peach hue. I looked up into emerald green eyes and more blue fur...Even though I was literally thirty seconds old, I knew who he was.

_Dad._

"You seem lost in thought." Startled, I jumped and turned towards a very familiar ebony hedgehog looking directly at me.

"It's nothing," I said smiling, turning my attention to the twins, who were making more snow angels. "Just watching the twins play reminded me of when I was a kid."

"At least you were lucky enough to have those memories," Shadow mused, looking at the twins himself. "Still, I find it rather...shall we say, interesting that you are the only living being to remember your own child birth." I basically told everyone I knew about that.

I nodded. "It seems so strange...I don't know how, but I can just remember."

"Do you think the twins can remember their birth?"

"It wouldn't surprise me really. They've already passed normal child expectations." I heard Shadow chuckle a little before it grew silent again. It's strange...I don't feel like a wife, but I feel like a mother. But now I suddenly feel sick as if I'm about to hurl or something...Ohhh wait...that means...Uh-oh...

"Oh dear Chaos..." Covering my mouth, I ran back into the house at full speed in hopes of making it to the bathroom. Unfortunately, even though I'm the second thing to the fastest thing alive, I didn't make it, so I had to vomit in the sink. Only one word can describe that; gross. Of course, Shadow immediately knew something was wrong, and was at my side in a split second.

"Dawn, are you alright? What's wrong?" he asked worriedly while rubbing my back.

"I don't feel good..." I groaned. Shadow didn't say anything, but he went back outside to get the kids while I got out of my winter gear. I spent the next hour in my room, feeling fine ironically. But Shadow was being the overprotective husband he was and kept me in bed until he felt I was in better health. As odd as this sounds, now that I threw up, I knew what was wrong with me now. I'll just have to get out of the bedroom to find out. That might prove difficult since Both Shadow and the kids are surrounding my bed. Cinos crawled in the bed with me and is sitting in my lap hugging my middle, trying to make me feel better. But I needed to leave the bedroom for just a tiny bit.

"Hey, Shadow? Can I go to the bathroom real quick? I'm feeling queasy again..." I said. Shadow nodded automatically and let me go (but I had to pry Cinos off of me) and went to said place. When there, I closed the door and opened the medicine cabinet and found the item I was looking for.

"Now let's see if my assumptions are correct..."

* * *

Dear Journal,

Sonic bought me a new journal to replace the old one I lost. I do wonder what happened to that thing...I never wrote in it anyway after I came back to Mobius. I'm not worried about it either; the entries in there are from when I was a human and then to the point where I first met Sonic. After that, the rest of the pages are blank. I don't know anyone who would be interested in reading that old thing (unless they were like, really stalker-like...yeesh...).

Anyhoo, guess what I just found out the other day? I'm pregnant. Again. Whoo. Well, I am happy that I'm pregnant, but it's just the thing about how quickly it came, especially the warning signs. I mean, they came quicker and weren't like my first pregnancy. I guess it differs from time to time, but I can't help but to wonder and worry.

It's been a while, and it's Christmas Eve now. I gotta tell my family about it soon. Possibly on Christmas day; it'd be more fitting if I told them then. I went with Shadow to buy everyone gifts. In fact, I'm writing this in the food court of a mall as we speak. Shadow and I had to separate during our shopping because we had to get each other gifts. The twins are with Sally and Sonic since they volunteered to babysit them. I already have their gifts; the kids' and my parents' gifts, that is. I'm having trouble with finding Shadow a gift. He's now the type of person to keep possessions. I'll think of something hopefully.

Crud, Shadow's coming. I don't want him to see this entry since I have that little secret in here. Better close it for a while and continue later (I _really_ hope no one finds this and reads it...But if someone is already reading it, then I shall hunt you down later).

**o.o.o.o.o**

Dear Journal,

I'm home now and I was able to find a gift for Shadow. I bought...a secret. HA! You thought I was gonna tell (or write) it down, didn't you?...Wow, this is sad. I'm starting to think this little book is an actual person. I think the pregnancy is affecting my brain...bleh...

Oh, the cutest thing just happened! Cinos wanted to get me a gift, so he actually took one of Sally's necklaces and attempted to wrap it up for me. He's such a sweetheart. Unfortunately, we had to take the necklace back, which caused Cinos to have a tantrum because he thought he couldn't give me a gift and I found out what the gift was, thus ruining the surprise. Luckily, I told him that I loved what he tried to do, but the only gift I needed form him was just him (cheesy I know, but c'mon! He's just a kid...).

Sonic's been giving me these mischievous looks every now and then. I'm starting to get the feeling that he knows my secret (or read my journal...somehow). Ugh...it's like he knows more about me than I do about him! That sneaky little blue prick...But I love him. He's my dad after all. It's weird though; he went from a fictional awesome character to my biological father. Since when does _that_ happen?

Oh boy...we just found out in a very disturbing way that Shad needs to get neutered...poor puppy...Well, he's not really a "puppy" anymore. He's practically full grown now, so I should've figured...

Heh heh...I just thought of something that's kinda funny, in my opinion anyway. Since I named Shad after Shadow, and when everyone finds out I'm pregnant again, I had a little thought where Sonic might make it so where Shadow gets "neutered" himself. That would be very cruel hilarious at the same token. Still, poor, poor Shad...Sonic calling the vet as I write. Kiss your testies goodbye, Shad.

Ah jeez, Sonic wants Shadow and I to move into the castle today or after Christmas. I think he only wants us to move in is because he doesn't want to be the only one to decorate the castle. I'm tired...I don't wanna go anywhere else today...My new embryo growing in my womb is taking most of my energy.

Cinos is hungry again. I better feed him. Be right back.

**o.o.o.o.o**

Dear Journal,

I just found residue from chili in my journal. Sonic, have you been reading this? !

**o.o.o.o.o**

Dear Journal,

Sonic forced us to move into the castle yesterday...Bleech...

Anyway, Merry (late) Christmas to whoever might be reading this (that especially means you, Sonic), 'cause by the time you do read this, Christmas would have came and gone.

Anyway, practically everyone we know came to the castle to celebrate. We gave everyone their gifts, and they gave us our gifts. I hope everyone likes what I bought for them. I gave Sonic a new pair of running shoes to replace the old ones he had. He loves them. I didn't know what to give Sal, so I gave her some new earrings. She loves them too. I gave a new tool set to Brendon and Tails, I gave Cyrus a new guitar, Evra...jeez, I didn't know what to give to Evra. She practically had everything she could ever want. I ended up giving her a little card that sang...But now I feel guilty because she gave me a brand spanking new evening dress that was my style...It was a halter dress that was black, split at the legs and had a dark blue dragon going around it...She said she made it, and all I gave her was a flimsy little card. She said she didn't care if I gave her a gift or not, but still...I could have done way better...

I guess it's time to reveal what I bought for Shadow. I bought him...

Heh heh heh...

I bought him...

GLOVES!

...Gotcha, didn't I? Haha! Nah...I bought him a watch that had an engraving on it that I personally had put on there. On the bottom of the watch, it had the following words "To the world's greatest father of three" written on it. When he read it out loud...Boy, you won't believe how many stares I got until everyone just rushed at me and hugged me, nearly killing me and my kid! But no one was as happy as Shadow. I was surprised of how quick they were about to figure that one out. But yeah, I was able to tell everyone I was pregnant...again.

Sonic was just so cool and calm about it. He said he already knew (in other words he read my past journal entry. Bastard!), and was just waiting for me to tell everyone.

Anyway, besides that bit of news, the other gifts were what you would have expected, but I'm too lazy to write down what everyone had gave each other...Plus, the twins are pestering me asking me if they're going to have another brother or sister. If you hadn't realized it yet, I've been writing this entry while we were giving out gifts and so on.

Now everyone's trying to kill me and my baby, asking if I want another shower and want to know when I found out...

Help...

P.S. Sonic, I swear to God, if I find out that it's you who's reading this...You won't be blue for long! (But I love you!)

* * *

**End Notes:** Wow...took me long enough.

Yeah, I deleted the other chapters and redid them 'cause the following chapter after chapter 10 just didn't seem to make sense. So sorry for the late update, but I've been wanting to do a Christmas and New Years chapter for a while.

But I have internet again! So now updating should be a little easier now. See ya later!


	13. Chapter 12

**Premature**

I practically forgot how pregnancy goes about for those four or five months. I'm two months pregnant and I blew up like a balloon. I'm not as big as I was when I was pregnant with the twins, so my stomach is still pretty big. The girls are still pestering me about a baby shower, but I want to wait until I'm towards my last month or so in the pregnancy. I can't tell if it's a boy or a girl though.

Shadow's been happier too. He's really glad that I'm pregnant (again). I guess he really thought he wouldn't be able to raise a family. He's already picking out the names. The two names I favor right now are "Artemis" and "Bloom." I still say that we should wait until I figure out if the baby is a boy or a girl before we start deciding names. I had went to the doctor or my check up to confirm how many kids are growing in my womb right now. I only have one, bringing out kid count to three.

The press went wild again when the news got out I was pregnant again. I had to lay low for a little bit until the commotion calmed down. I couldn't even go outside that much because of it, so I had to live as a temporary hermit for a while. Cinos and Maria are excited about having a little brother or sister. They are very curious as to how the baby is growing in my womb, so Shadow and I had to make up some sort of story to try to get them to understand where babies come from until we can tell them the real thing until they're older. We would have went with the old stork story if I didn't blew up so.

Anyway, the story we made up was that a mommy and a daddy makes a wish to the North Star for a baby, and a Baby Fairy would come to the mommy and daddy to grat their wish. However, the mommy and daddy must convince the great Baby People from above that they are responsible enough to raise the baby, so the fairy must have the baby grow in the mommy's stomach to prove that they're ready. If he baby comes out healthy, than they are responsible parents. If it doesn't, than the Baby Fairy comes back and takes the baby away so that it can be raised by the great Baby People above so the baby will grow up and be happy.

It's a weird story, but they believed it. The sad thing is we had to come up with all of that off of the top of our heads. We even told this story to Sonic, and he looked at us like we were crazy before he started laughing.

I'm a little worried about the twins though. they're growing quickly, and they're about four or five now. If they were human kids, they would still be at least one year old. But I keep forgetting that time runs faster on Mobius than it does on Earth. But now that Earth is Mobion, time probably sped up. I honestly don't know. The whole time thing is so confusing that my head begins to spin whenever I think about it.

I'm having cravings like you wouldn't believe. Shadow even developed some sort of sixth sense where he knows when I wake up in the middle of the night, head dowwnstairs into the kitchen and eat ice cream. I got away with it the first couple of weeks to a month, but now I can hardly leave the room. He even hid the ice cream.

"You shouldn't be eating all of this junk," he said to me one day. "This could probably endanger our baby's health."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Fine. I'll just find an alternative for my sweet tooth. Happy now?" In the end, I just settled for eating fruit when I got the cravings to ease my sweet tooth. And my ankles are swelling up.

Well, with all of my complaints aside, if I remember correctly, a hedgehog's pregnancy lasts for five or six months. I went over a bit on the final month though, but each pregnancy is different. I'm counting down the months to when I'll have this little one. Good thing I'm married now.

. . . . .

It's been four months now. I feel fat; my stomach looks huge. The fruit isn't easing my cravings anymore. And the baby I'm carrying now is a boy. We had a baby shower a week ago, and I got a crap load of gifts. We had to put another crib in the kids' room, but now we have everything set for our baby boy's arrival.

Anyway, I'm alone in the castle instead of the house. Everyone had to go out for a mission again. Egghead's struck again, but I forgot where. Brendon and Evra are watching the twins since no one didn't want me to watch the twins while Sally, Shadow and Sonic were away. They think I should take it easy for a while. I decided not to look for anymore sweets since I'm starting to get sick of them. Besides, I don't want my kid to come out with ADHD.

I'm so bored right now...and lonely. The castle's way too quiet, even with the TV on and with Shad running around. Well, he _was_ running around. He disappeared a little while ago. Probably went to go take a nap or something. That's not out of the norm around here.

"Ugh..." The heck? Why is my stomach suddenly cramping up? And I don't feel good either. And why does it feel like I have a leak?

Oh no...

_My water broke!_

* * *

_**End Notes:**_ Short chapter, hope it isn't rushed. So sorry for the delay.

Review if you want to, but I just ask that you don't be mean in the review.

Thanks for reading! See you next time, and God bless! And Happy Valentine's Day! :3


	14. Chapter 13

**One + One = Five**

"Dammit!" How can my water break now? I'm only four months pregnant! I only had another month or two before the baby could be born. Now I'm about to give birth prematurely...And no one is around to help me. I really need someone to help me, and I need someone NOW. I'm scared to move; the phone is in the kitchen, I left my communicator at home, and I have no idea where my cell phone is. I heard Shad barking somewhere in the castle, but the barking started to fade out as if Shad was leaving.

I'm scared. I'm very scared right now. This had to be the worst possible moment where I had to be alone. If only I wasn't an idiot and left all my means of communication at the other house! And shad ran off somewhere...I could have had him to go get someone...And I have the incredible urge to push, but I didn't want to. I couldn't. I don't think I could have the baby on my own. I needed a doctor, and by the time I give birth to the baby, I'll be too worn out to care for it.

I'm in so much pain right now, but it's not as painful as it was when I gave birth to the twins. But It still hurts. I'm struggling to fight my natural instinct to push, and the worse part was that the baby was crowning. I can feel it. Oh someone please come and help me...I hate being alone, especially when I'm in trouble. When I was still a teen, I always preferred to do things on my own. That changed ever since I turned into an adult. Though I still prefer to do things on my own, I like it when people come around to help me, especially Shadow and Sonic.

"Shad, whever you went, please go get help..." The urge to push was getting stronger, and that's what I ended up doing actually. I pushed, hard. I felt the baby move out of my womb slowly.

I had to scoot off of the couch and sit on the floor by that point. I don't think Sonic would be too happy if he came home and saw a gooey wet mess on his couch. Then again, I don't think he would want it on his floor either. Groaning, I forced my way up from the floor and had to slowly make my way towards the bathroom and closed the door when I got there. I didn't feel right out in the open. I felt too vulernable. And my private area is burning for some odd reason. That never happened when I gave birth to the twins. I hope it's not serious...

I felt horrible. I did not want to give birth while I was alone, but by this point, I didn't have any choice. I was getting tired, and the more I fought, the more energy I was wasting. I just had to hope someone would come soon.

With no other choice, I pushed again. The head was always a pain to get out, and I mean that literally. But I was almost there...just one more time and...

The pain subsides.

I hear crying.

I look down to see a small black furry wet creature squirming between my legs. I unintentionally ended up pushing that final time without trying to. There's a towel hanging on a rack nearby, so I grab it, use it to pick up the baby and do my best to wipe him clean. I'm still burning in that area down there, and it's getting a little irritating, but I had something bigger to worry about. The baby stops crying after I wrap him up in something warm and cradled him, and then I had to feed him.

He bit me. For a newborn without any teeth, it hurts. I am able to see more detail into my new baby boy. What really stands out about him was that he was black all over. His muzzle wasn't visible at all. The only thing you could really see on him were the inside of his ears and his deep orange eyes. He's very cute though and looks healthy for a premature baby.

"Hey you," I coo at him "You decided to arrive at the wrong time, you know that?" I didn't expect a reply since he was still feeding, but he looked up at me.

Now I have to figure out how the heck I'm going to cut the cord. I don't know who had that first aid kit the first time I gave birth, or where it was. Perfect. Now I'm going to have to wait until someone gets here so the cord can be cut. I might as well use this time to try and name him. I could tell I was going to be here for a while.

...Or not. I literally had to wait another thirty seconds before I heard the door slam open and Shad barking. I guess Shad sensed something was wrong before I did and rushed out to find help. Took him long enough.

"DAWN!" That was definitely Sonic's voice. They must have returned from the mission when Shad found them.

"I'm in the bathroom!" I called after I covered the baby's ears. I think he still heard me, but didn't care. I heard him and other people rush towards to where I was. The bathroom door opens, but Sonic freezes when he sees me on the floor holding the baby. Shadow pushes his way through and also shares the same reaction as my father. I smile sheepishly at them as I shrugged.

"I guess he couldn't wait any longer," I said.

"He's a month premature," Sonic said as he and Shadow come sit next to me. "but he looks healthy..."

"I would have told you guys what was going on, but I had no way to contact you."

"You managed to come into the bathroom, but you weren't able to get to the nearest phone?" Shadow asked with the ridge of his eye raised.

"Hey, the bathroom was closest, and I almost fell a few times too. Even if I managed to get into the kitchen, I wouldn't be able to have made that phone call."

"I'll get the medical kit," Sonic said as he stood up. "We gotta cut the cord." And then he left, leaving Shadow and I alone. Shadow didn't say much, but he eased closer to me so he could look at the baby more. He moved the towel aside and rubbed the small child's head a little before he looked up at me.

"Have you thought of a name yet?" he asked.

"I did actually," I replied smiling.

"Well?"

"I was thinking of calling him 'Aries'."

"Why Aries?"

"Well, he was born in April, and he caused my vagina to burn as he was being born as if he lit it on fire. And since Aries has the element of fire, I thought it would be fitting." Shadow smiled before he kissed my cheek.

"Aries it is then."

. . . . . .

"Dawn, why is Aries poking Shad with a screwdriver?" I made a face at Shadow before I turned to check on my youngest son. Sure enough, there he was, sitting on the floor with his toy screwdriver poking a very bored looking Shad with it. I blinked before I shook my head and continued to wash Cinos in the tub.

"That boy is an odd one." I say. Shadow eventually tells Aries to stop since he didn't want Shad to get annoyed and bite the child. Some time has passed ever since I gave birth to Aries. Don't really know how much time had passed exactly since I'm too busy trying to raise three kids and run an entire planet.

Like his older brother and sister, Aries is growing at a faster rate than any other child, but it seems like their growing process slows down as they get older. Cinos and Maria they could be around seven while Aries looks like he's four or five. Not much has changed since Aries was born, though now we have three bundles of joy to look after.

Cinos is still his hyperactive self, Maria's still laid back, but Aries is...well, a bit odd. He's quiet most of the time, but cries loud. On top of that, he does some weird things. Poking Shad with his toy screwdriver is just one of the many behaviors he does. He doesn't like to be picked up by someone he doesn't know. We found this out when Sonic tried to hold him. He cried, screamed and flailed while reaching out to me because he didn't want to be held by someone he didn't know, even if Sonic was his grandfather. He allows Sonic to pick him up now since he knows him more, but if it was someone else, he would have to get to know you more. Usually you would just have to sit next to him and play with him a lot before he can fully trust you. He hasn't spoken yet either, and it's worrying Shadow and I a bit. We believe he might end up a mute, but we're trying to urge him to speak. Usually he just uses his body language and his whines to communicate with us. We can read him like a book now.

Aries is close to his older brother and sister however. The three of them always play together, and they haven't fought so far. I'm just counting down the seconds until they have their first fight.

Cinos started splashing in the water again, causing some of the water to spill onto the floor. I had to calm him down so he would stop. I always find myself mopping up the bathroom floor whenever Cinos takes a bath. Aries and Maria are just little angels though. It's their oldest brother that gives me more trouble.

"Do you have to go anywhere later on?" I asked my husband. Shadow hummed a little bit before he shook his head.

"I don't think so," he said "I might be home all day if nothing comes up, but don't take my word for it." I drained the water out of the tub and helped Cinos get out of the tub before I started to dry him off.

"Well, I hope you're staying, because we have to talk about getting the kids a tutor or possibly go to a private school."

"But I don't wanna go to school!" Cinos said cheerfully as he poked his head out from under the towel. "Can't you and dad teach us stuff?"

"No," I said tickling Cinos. "You'll have to go to school if you want to get smart."

"But we are smart," Maria said matter-of-factly, speaking for the first time in the last hour. "I know all of my ABCs and I can count up to thirty. I can also read big words and read the entries in the dictionary."

"Even so, that doesn't mean that you still have stuff to learn," Shadow said "You're probably a little advanced than the other kids, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go to school and learn more things."

"But I wanna stay heeeeeeeeeere," Cinos whined "I don't wanna be away from mom all daaaaaaaaay..."

"Fine," I said as I tried to get Cinos dressed "We'll get a tutor and have you three home-schooled until you're old enough to go to school."

"Are you sure about that, Dawn?" Shadow asked.

"I'm not very comfortable with having them go out to school all day after Maria was kidnapped," I said honestly. "I'm afraid someone else besides Scourge would try to harm them. I want them to have an education but..."

"I understand." I was finally able to get Cinos' clothes back on before he ran out of the bathroom, with Shad right behind him. I shake my head as I turned towards Aries, who was hitting a plastic nail in a fake piece of wood with his toy hammer.

"What about you, Aries?" I said getting his attention. "Do you want to go to school?" Aries looked up at me for a few seconds before he started fiddling with his toys again.

"No..." he mumbled. Shadow and I looked at each other briefly before turning back at Aries, who was now lying flat on his back waving his legs around.

"Why don't you want to go to school, Aries?" Shadow asked.

"Because," he replied "I no wike it when I away from mama and papa. It not fuuuuuun."

"But school can be fun," I said as I picked him up. "You'll play, learn how to read and write, make friends...I went to school too, y'know."

"It no fun."

"Whatever you say." Aries yawned as he snuggled his head under my chin. Shadow laughed a little before he came over to me and started to rub Aries on his head a little.

"He's special," he whispered to me. "I could tell the moment he was born."

"Mhm. But let's get him to bed. It's his nap time. And the dynamic duo need their nap too, so round them up for me, will you hon?" Shadow rolled his eyes before I kissed him on the cheek and walked out of the bathroom and headed upstairs. I had to admit, I loved being a wife and a mother. But three was enough. Don't get me wrong, I love all of my kids dearly, but Cinos is a handful by himself. Not to mention that Aries is...eccentric. Maria isn't really a problem, but her big brother's influence gets the best of her most of the time. Sometimes, it makes me wonder what my kids might grow up to be one day...

* * *

**_End Notes:_** So sorry for the late update! And sorry if the ending seems a bit choppy, but I'm just trying to add a foreshadowing affect to the chapter.

Not sure when the next chapter's gonna be up, but hopefully it won't take too long. I have a lot of make-up work at school to complete, so don't count on a quick update. But anyway...

Thanks for reading! See you next time, and God bless!


	15. Conclusion

**From Dusk 'till Dawn**

"Hey dad? Can I have a pet?" Dad looked up from bathing our dog Shad and looked at my younger brother quizzically.

"You already have a pet," he said just before Shad started to shake to get the soap and water off of him, soaking him and my sister Maria.

"But I want a smaller pet," Aries said simply. "Something I can carry with me but has an IQ level of a bird, which are intellectual animals."

"So, you're saying that Shad has a low IQ level?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "If so, you're wrong. Shad was smart enough to know beforehand that Mom was in labor and ran to get help. Didn't they tell you how you were born?" Aries pouted.

"I already know that. Mom told me that story long ago, and I'm not saying Shad is stupid. What I'm saying is that I want a pet of my own that's small and doesn't need a lot to be taken care of. Shad is the familiy dog." Maria stopped scrubbing Shad for a minute and started pondering on what Aries was trying to say.

"Aries wants a pet that's small, yet smart. I'm thinking that he wants a small rodent like a hamster, or possibly a mouse," she said.

"We might as well get him a hedgehog then," Shadow, my Dad, chuckled.

"Isn't that like paradox or something?" I asked. "I mean, we're hedgehogs, right? So, if we keep a hedgehog as a pet, then...isn't that wrong? It's like we're enslaving our own species or something!"

"Not necessarily," Maria said thoughtfully. "I once saw a Mobian cat with a pet cat. It didn't seem wrong."

"So you're sayin' that if Uncle Knuckles wanted a pet, then he can go out, find a wild echidna and keep it for his own and there will be no negative repercussions behind that, right?" Maria shrugged.

"Just saying." Aries sighed and averted his attention back to our dad.

"Dad, I know we're a bit spoiled and you know how much I hate asking you guys for stuff, but I really, _really_want a pet that I can call my own. My own lil' buddy. I just want a small pet, nothing big like another dog. Please?" Dad hummed a bit as he dried his hand off with a towel. Aries was practically on his knees begging, well, not really. He was just giving dad those puppy-dog eyes that mom used to pull off with granpa when she was our age. Eventually, Dad let out a small sigh and ruffled up Aries' fur.

"I'll discuss it with your mother, and if she says it's ok, then we'll get you a pet." A wide smile spread across my little brother's lips as he nearly glomped our dad while saying "Thank you!" over and over again. Dad just smiled again as he pushed our youngest brother off.

"Cinos, can you, your brother and sister finish washing Shad for me? After you're done, you all are free for the rest of the evening."

"Sure thing!" I replied. "Shad'll be spotless by the time we're done!"

"Unless, of course, he decides to destroy the garden again," Maria added innocently. I ended up rolling my eyes without trying to, because she was telling the truth. The dog loves that garden so much; he digs in it whenever he got the chance! Mom and dad were desperate so they put if a wired fence around the garden, but Shad somehow managed to chew through it. Dad said that he might build a little sand pit for Shad to dig in when he gets the chance. He doesn't want Shad to dig in it anymore because he's trying to grow mom's favorite flowers in it; multicolored roses.

Aries finally let go of Dad before our ebony father went inside to see what was mom doing. If you don't know yet, my name is Cinos. Actually my full name is Prince Cinos the Hedgehog. My sister's name is Maria, and my little brother's name is Aries. Maria is a princess and Aries is a prince too. I bet you're wondering how can an ordinary looking family can be part of a kingdom. Well, it's simple. My grandma is Queen Sally Acorn, and my grandpa is the famous hero of Mobius, and the king, King Sonic the Hedgehog. Grandpa became king after he married grandma years ago. Months later, grandma got pregnant with my mom who is Princess Dawn the Hedgehog, but my mom's story is very, very complicated. I'll give you the short version. The original story turned out to be a big elaborate lie grandpa cooked up, so I don't know much about it. I'll only give you what I was told:

In the first story, Mom had her embryo transferred to a human's because Sally died for some unknown reason and she was born a human. But in the _real _story, mom's embryo wasn't developing like it should in grandma's womb, so to save her from dying, granddad found a human couple who were willing enough to carry Mom's embryo until she was born. After Mom was born, some stuff happened, and Sonic had to give mom up to the human couple to protect her. I don't know how true that is, but that's all I really know.

Anyway, I'm the oldest of my three siblings. Actually, Maria and I are the same age, but I'm the oldest because I was born ten minutes before Maria. Aries is clearly the youngest since he was born months later after Mom and Dad got married. I know this because I was the ring bearer and Maria was the flower girl. Anyway, it's kinda hard to determine our ages. Y'see, our dad, Shadow, was artificially created on some top secret laboratory in space called the Space Colony ARK. He was created to be the Ultimate Lifeform, and since we are made up by his DNA, we're growing faster than any other kids our age, and maybe a little smarter. If one was to look at us, you would estimate that Maria and I are probably thirteen or fourteen, while Aries looks like he could be eleven or twelve.

We all took the genes from both of our parents. I'm ebony like dad and has his tan muzzle, but instead of red stripes, the tips of my quills are white, which is the same tone of white as my mom (she's all white by the way). But I have a white strip going down my right eye. My eyes are colored weird two. I have my dad's red eye and my mom's icy blue eye. I don't wear gloves, but I usually wear some faded jeans that are ripped and some white boots. I don't think I'm gonna grow any chest hair like my dad, because if I was, it would have grown in already.

Maria looks like me, but not really. If we were younger, you would say we were twins, but not anymore. Maria is ebony too, and has a tan muzzle and torso. However, she doesn't have stripes on her quills either. Instead she has red rings at the ends of her quills. Her eyes are dark blue though. Also, since she's a girl, her quills had gotten longer, so she usually has them up in a ponytail with a bang. She style her quills occasionally; one day she wears a ponytail and a few days later, they're hanging with a headband. She usually wears a small blue tank top with shorts and sandals and blue gloves with the fingers cut off.

Aries looks a little weird compared to the two of us. First off, he's black all over. No muzzle, no torso, just fur, unless you don't count the inside of his ears. And his eyes are orange, which is a little strange since no one in our family has orange eyes (that we know of anyway). He just wears jeans and tennis shoes. He's like the family's version of Tails, only weirder. But he's our little brother, so we accept him regardless.

We were able to finish bathing Shad without a hitch, so we dried him off and went back into the house.

"Hey Cinos," Maria asked "did you finish the homework assignment from Friday?" I looked at her.

"We had a homework assignment?" My sister face palmed and made her way upstairs to her room.

"Duh! You didn't hear what Ms. Chung said? We to finish page forty-nine in our Geometry books, remember?" I remember now...

"Whoops..."

"Dad's gonna be steamed if you come home with another F on your paper," Aries added.

"I know! I'll try and finish tonight, but if I can't, I'll take on dad's wrath and hopefully survive..."

"I'll help you with it if ya want," Aries offered.

"Ya mean it lil' bro?"

"Well, if I do it, you'll have to buy me candy after school tomorrow when you come and pick me up."

"Deal. Just don't tell mom and dad that I bought it for you. I'm already on the ropes after my last report card."

"What did you have on your last report card?" Maria asked with an eyebrow raised.

"I got an F in Biology. Dad was steamed because that's my best subject. If I get another F in any of my subjects, I'll be grounded for life!" By now we were already on the second floor, and Maria went into the bathroom to have her shower, so Aries and I went into my room to get started on my late assignment. I'm not bad in any of my subjects; I can get all A's without trying, but my drawback is that I'm a procrastinator. Aries and Maria, however, are angels as Mom put it. They're on the Honor Roll and always get all A's. I can pull off the same thing if I didn't like to goof-off so much.

The funny thing is that I really didn't need any help with the assignment. All I had to do was draw certain shapes like a trapazoid or a shape with perpindicular lines and I was finished. Still, I promised Aries that I would get him some candy after school, and if I didn't, he would tattle on me. He wouldn't really do it though; the three of us are like, super close. If one goes down, we all go down. Besides, I don't mind buying Aries candy. I'm actually in the mood for some fudge myself.

I was glad I was able to finish the assignment before it had gotten too late. Aries went back to his room to get ready for school while I got ready for a shower. Aries like to take a shower in the morning while Maria and I like to take a shower the night before. He said something about he would like to wash to dirt off just before he gets covered with it again that same day or something...I know it had something to do with science but I don't really remember what he said.

Well, once I was clean, I went straight for bed. There was no way I was gonna risk staying up when I had to get up in the morning. The last thing I need is for Mom to get that God forsaken whistle again...

**. . . . .**

"Cinos! Wake up! We gotta get ready!" Maria pulled the duvets off of my body and started shaking me furiously on my shoulder. I groaned as I grabbed my pillow and used it to cover my head.

"Cinos, Mom's gonna get a blow horn if you don't get up."

"But it's still early..." I complained. "The sun's not even out yet."

"Cinos, it's 7:00! We have to be at school by 8:30, and you know how long it takes you to get up!" Groaning loudly, I sat up on my bed and rubbed my eyes.

"Fine! I'm up!"

"Good. Now get ready before Aries gets out of the shower and eats everything and you won't get to have French toast today." Darn. Now I _have_ to get up. Maria left the room while I remained sitting on my bed. I know I was delaying the inedible, but you can't blame me for trying. I eventually got up, groomed my fur, got dressed and went downstairs. When I got to the kitchen, Mom was at the stove while Dad was at the counter drinking coffee...while looking into a box with holes? Maria was standing next to him trying to peek into the box.

"Hey, what's in there?" I asked curiously as I walked over.

"Something for Aries," Dad replied casually.

"Can we see?" my sister asked.

"No. If you did, it would ruin the surprise." As if on cue, Aries came down into the kitchen with his bag slung over his shoulder. He saw us gathered around dad and came over.

"Hey, what's going on? Why is everyone over here? What's in the box?" Dad just smiled as he move Maria and I aside so Aries could get to the box.

"Well, why don't you find out?" Aries tilted his head a little before he took the box, put it on the ground and looked inside. I wanted to see what was in the box too, but Aries' big head blocked the view.

"Oh cool!"

"What is it?" Maria asked. Aries stood up and showed us what was crawling around in his hands. It was a rat; it was while all over with black spots all over its face. It looked young, and it was crawling up and down Aries' arm and going back and forth on his shoulder.

"Cute," Maria cooed "can I hold it?"

"No," Aries said, holding the rat defensively. "Get your own."

"When did you guys get it?" I asked, trying to coax the rat onto my palm.

"Well, after your mother and I discussed it, we decided that he deserved a little companion. We were lucky to find this little guy at the last minute."

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Boy,"

"I'm gonna call you...Buddy." Aries said petting "Buddy."

"Alright you three," Mom said "you better hurry and eat or else you'll be late."

"Ok!" Dad got rid of the box while the rest of us sat and ate. Aries kept feeding Buddy his breakfast; Mom didn't want him to eat anything sweet since she didn't want Buddy to get sick, but Aries confirmed that rats will eat just about anything, if they're not spoiled. After we ate, the three of us bid our parents goodbye and left the house. But before we could actually leave...

"Aries, you're taking Buddy with you to school?" Mom asked. Aries grinned nervously.

"I'll keep him hidden, I promise! My Science teacher has rats in her class! I have Home EC too! I'll make some sort of transportation carrier for him and-"

"Ok Aries, you can take Buddy with you," Dad sighed. "But please make sure you come home with him. Alive." I held back a laugh.

"Now that's just cruel," Mom said while giving Dad a blank look. Said ebony hedgehog grinned nervously as he pretended to read the newspaper.

"I will, I promise!" And then we left for real.

Our school was near the border of Knothole and Station Square, but it was a good walking distance away from where we lived. The school also happens to be the high school mom went to when she was our age. But we had to pass up our school to get Aries to his school, which was a block away. We would have walked there, but we provide our own faster ways of transportation.

We all inherited our parents' speed and powers, but we have some drawbacks. I can run fast like granddad, but I can only run in a straight line. I'll have to slow down in order to turn. Because of that, I don't try to run. Instead I use my Extreme Gear (Hover Board from Sonic Riders) as my transportation. Maria has no problem running. She even uses rockets on the bottom on her sandals like Dad does. But she can't use Chaos attacks like Chaos Spear. She can't even use Chaos Control without our assistance, and she can't Spin Dash. But she can form these type of tornadoes that have a hint of Chaos energy in them.

Aries can only run in short bursts, and if he runs too long, he'll get tired quickly. However, he inherited dad's ability to teleport himself with and without a Chaos Emerald, while Maria, Mom and I need a Chaos Emerald in order to teleport. And he can also use Chaos Snap, an ability only Dad can use. The ability itself is unknown, and no one knows how its used. All we know is that the user simple snaps his or her fingers and one or multiple targets bursts into flames or explodes.

With all of us riding boards and skating, to took us no time at all to drop Aries off and then go to our school. We were on time; we got there fifteen minutes after the hour. As Maria and I went to our lockers, a pink echidna in glasses came up to us.

"Hey guys," she greeted.

"'Sup Lara?" I greeted. Lara-Su is Knuckles' and Julie-Su's daughter. We met her in third grade. We've been best friends ever since.

"Did you finish your homework?" she asked us.

"I did, but Cinos decided to slack off and tried to finish it at the last minute," Maria teased.

"HEY! I got it done, didn't I? Besides, it's not like I'm dumb or anything, I just like to goof off!"

"And you're admitting that?" Lara asked with a raised eyebrow. I just shrugged.

"You're better off admitting it than denying it."

"Whatever you say, big brother..." Maria said as she turn and started walking for our first glass (which was ironically Geometry). But she wasn't able to make it since something, or rather, someone blocked her path. Well, that someone didn't really block her path since they sorta ran into each other. Maria fell but had an iron grip on her bag. Can't say the same thing for the other guy though.

"Oh jeez, I'm so sorry!" she cried before picking up the other person's paper.

"Don't worry 'bout it. No harm done," Maria gave the paper back to the other guy, and he gladly accepted it. We never saw him before...He was a dark green hedgehog around our age. Had a peach muzzle and torso, wore ripped jeans, a black jacket with green flames, had blue eyes and had a pair of blue and dark blue goggles around his neck. And then there was his voice...It sounded like granddad's younger voice only it was deeper. But we didn't get to get anymore details from him since he rushed off as if he was nervous. We watched him leave, but I was the only one to ask the question that was in all of our minds.

"Who the heck was that?"

"Dunno," Maria said thoughtfully. "He looks nervous...is he new here?"

"I did hear rumors of an exchange student coming but...I don't know if that's him or not," Lara said.

"Well, whoever he is, we'll have to find out later. We better get to class or else we'll be late." Maria and Lara had no arguments there, and we went to our first class. When we got there, class was about to start. The three of us always sat in the last row in the class. It made it easier for us to pass notes when we're bored. It was when we got our homework out when the teacher came in, with a visitor. It was the same hedgehog we saw in the hallway!

"Class! May I have your attention please!" The entire class went silent and all eyes were on the new kid. "Everyone, this is Dusk. He's and exchange student and just enrolled into the school."

"His name should be our brother's name," I whispered to my sister, who gave me a look that told me that she couldn't agree more.

"I want you all to make him feel welcome to the school. And I will also need a volunteer to show him around the school so he won't get lost." Count me out. "Hmmm...Cinos! Why don't you be our volunteer?" Well, crap.

"Uh...I get lost in the school too sometimes. I think Lara-Su would do a better job than me." Some of my classmates giggled.

"Lara-Su actually has some business to take care of for the school Science Fair," said echidna teased.

"Well, my sister knows the school like the back of her hand! She can do it."

"Ahem...SOMEone whille have to go to our next class to tell Mr. Ben why you will be late, remember?"

"Skye?"

"Nuh-uh! I'm not in this, Cinos! Besides, you owe me!" exclaimed a yellow fox two rows in front of me. Skye is Tails' and Mina's's son. He's also one of our best friends, but he was right about one thing. I did owe him ever since Ms. Chung caught him passing me the answers to a test, and we both got in trouble for it.

"Cinos, are you that lazy?" Ms. Chung asked while giving me a disappointing look. I thought about it for a minute before I said "yes." Insert class laughing here. "Well, I'm afraid you have no choice. And this will count as part of your grade. So if you don't do it, you will fail." Double-crap! I can't go home with another F!

"Ok, ok...I'll show him around after class is over," I sighed.

"Excellent!" Ms. Chung directed Dusk to an empty seat on the left side of the room next to a window before class started. I spent the whole class hour doing my work (I really couldn't slack off, plus I was too mad to even think about it) and ended up finishing my homework without knowing it until the last minute. Class ended eventually and I stood outside the door to wait for Dusk. He was the last person to leave.

"Alright, ready?" I asked as I slung my bag over my shoulder.

"Let's get it over with," he said coolly. I started out guiding him through the first floor, second floor and the basement, covering each class and that other crap. The school's pretty big, so it was going to take a while before we completely covered the whole school.

"...and that leads to the pool, but it's closed for repairs. Down that way is another exit and...around the corner from here is another office I think."

"...Was that girl your sister?" I turned towards him and gave him a look.

"Yeah why?...Hey, if you're trying to pull anything, then I swear to God-"

"H-Hey! Dude, chill, I was just askin'."

"You better be..."

"...So...uh...I heard that like, you and your sis are part of the Royal Family, huh?"

"Yep."

"That's cool. We're like, I dunno, kinda related 'cause my dad's a king too." I turned towards him again and gave him another look.

"Who the heck is your dad? As far as I know, only my granddad is the only king around here!"

"Yeah, but my dad is the king of, like...er...an alternate dimension of this planet or somethin'? It's all weird..." Wait a minute...I remember mom and dad telling us about something like that...An evil king of an alternative version of this planet...but what was his name? It started with a S...

"What's your dad's name?" Dusk shrugged.

"I dunno...he told me his name but doesn't want me to call him by his first name. I forgot what it was though. Started with an S." I just said that! "I was 'Scott' or "Scuge" or something like that." The second name kinda rang a bell in my head, but then it didn't.

"Well, do ya have a mom?"

"Yeah?"

"What's her name?"

"Midnight." I don't even know who that is. "Why, you know my mom and dad?"

"Well...not really, but I heard my parents tellin' my bro and sis and I about a king from an alternate dimension. But I can't exactly remember what they told me."

"Oh." I decided to push those thought aside for a while since I knew I would be pondering on that the rest of the day if I didn't. By the time I had finished showing Dusk around the school, my second hour class had already ended. He showed me his schedule and asked me if he knew which way his next class was, and I had to point him in the right direction. The rest of the school day went by pretty fast, and we didn't see Dusk either. By the time I started thinking about him again, school was over and Maria and I were already on our way to pick up Aries. That kid gave off a weird vibe, that's for sure. And that's when I started thinking about what he said. His dad is a king of an alternative dimension of this planet...Mom and Dad told us about this! Why can't I remember!

"Hey, Cinos, you ok?" I looked up and saw Maria waving her hand in front of my face.

"I'm awake! Quit it!"

"Well jeez, sorry! But, you kinda zoned out on me. Is something wrong?"

"Well, yeah, and no. It's that Dusk kid...something he told me had me thinkin'..."

"What'd he say to you?"

"Remember when mom and dad, and even grandma and granddad told us about an evil king who ruled an alternative version of our planet?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, he said that, that guy is his dad."

"What? ! No way...I bet he's lying."

"I dunno...He wasn't boasting about it. In fact, he was really calm and casual about it. He might be telling the truth." We had made it to Aries' school, and he had ran over to us looking as cheerful as ever. But then I noticed something blue ad round following him at his heels.

"Is that a hamster ball?" Maria asked, looking down at the object at her feet.

"Yup!" our little brother said proudly as he picked up the round object...with Buddy inside of it. "I made it in Home EC. I can alter its shape to any kind of transportation device for Buddy. So now it'll be easier for me to carry him around. Look! He's even following me now!"

"Hey, lil' bro?"

"Yeah Cinos?"

"Do you remember what Mom and Dad told us? About an evil king from an alternative dimension of this planet?"

"Yup. He was Sonic's evil twin, and he was also after mom when she was younger."

"Do you remember his name?"

"Yeah, but I'm not telling you. I'll give you the definition and you'll have to figure it out." Maria crossed her arms.

"Why do you do these things to us?" she asked innocently.

"Because I'm your little brother and it's my job to torment you. And, ironically, that word also happened to be the very adjective that defines that evil king's name. His name means that he is someone who is perceived as an agent of of punishment, destruction, or sometimes severe criticism."

"Well jeez did you have to give us the exact definition in the dictionary-" I snapped my fingers, cutting my sister off.

"Scourge! His name was Scourge! Now I remember!"

"Wow, you actually nailed it."

"You shut up."

"Wait a minute...Cinos, are you saying that Dusk is Scourge's son?" Maria asked with wide eyes. Aries soon shared her same expression as he looked at me.

"Wait, wait, wait! Did I miss something? You're telling me that Scourge, granddad's very evil twin and king of Anti-Mobius, had a son named Dusk?"

"Well, I'm not very sure," I replied honestly. "But Dusk said that Scourge was his dad since he was also a king, and granddad is the only king king around here! And there's no way he could be granddad's son! He looks nothing like him!"

"Too bad we don't know how this guy looks," Maria said thoughtfully. "If we did, then maybe we could confirm if what he said was true or not."

"Wait, what's his mom's name?" Aries asked.

"Ahhh...someone named Midnight?"

"Well, that name draws a blank."

"Regardless," I said seriously. "We're gonna have to do some checkin' around, 'cause if what Dusk says is true, then we might be in trouble. Scourge is one bad dude, and the last thing we need is to be friends with his kid!"

"Well! If it's information that you need, then leave that to me," Aries tucked Buddy-in-a-Ball under his arm. "You know I'm practically a master hacker. If he's on Mobius, then I can sure find a way to get some information on him. But If I can't, I'll look up Dusk."

"We'll go into your room together so we can see the results for ourselves," Maria suggested. "I don't think it would be a good idea to print out the results. If we did and Mom and Dad finds them...Weeeeeell let's just say that we will have a lot of explaining to do..."

"We won't tell Mom and Dad...yet. If we find out that Dusk is indeed Scourge's kid, then we tell them. If not, then we overreacted."

"Well, we better head home. The last thing we need is to be late, and we do not want Mom and Dad to flip out."

"I do wonder why they're so protective..." I just shrugged as we started to make our way home. I couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling I had gotten ever since I met Dusk...And I get the feeling that we're going to find out a lot about him, and possibly his parents, when we start snooping around...

* * *

_**End Notes [EDIT]:**_ Oh-em-gee! Did Scourge really have a kid with Midnight? Or did something else happen? Well...find out in the next part...which will be in the sequel!

Yeah, I ended it off here, but never got around to editing it, saying that it did. Sorry people who was expecting another chapter.

No idea exactly WHEN i'm gonna make the sequel, since I have a lot of incomplete stories I either have to finish or not do at all. Besides, I'm feeling like some of my more recent stories aren't as good...

Well, that's the end, folks! See ya next time, and God bless you all!


End file.
